


Ready Aim Fire

by AviofAvonlea



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Dubious Consent, Dubious Morality, Dysfunctional Relationships, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Experimentation, F/F, F/M, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Manipulation, Mech Preg, Medical Procedures, Mind Games, Minor Character Death, Misunderstandings, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Relationship Problems, Secrets, Seeker Bonds, Seeker Trines, Spies, Starscream being Starscream, Starscream vs Elita One, Sticky Sexual Interfacing, Unhealthy Relationships, Unplanned Pregnancy, War Crimes, and a very unhealthy amount of it, by an unlicensed medic, like whoa everyone has a problem or two to sort out, the Autobots aren't saints, there are no winners or good-guys in war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:07:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23391475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AviofAvonlea/pseuds/AviofAvonlea
Summary: When Starscream is captured on Cybertron by the merciless Elita One, the unexpected happens and the Autobots are left scrambling to cover their tracks. Starscream must outwit and outmaneuver his enemies before it is too late, only this time it is not just his own life that is on the line.In which there are no winners, only survivors.
Relationships: Elita One/Optimus Prime, Green Female Autobot | Greenlight/Orange Female Autobot | Lancer, Megatron/Starscream, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Starscream&Thundercracker&Skywarp
Comments: 33
Kudos: 77





	1. Emergence

**Author's Note:**

> This is the result of a 4 a.m. caffeine-fueled night of boredom. This fic spawned right after I ran out of MegaStar fics to read so I had to write my own in order to feed my addiction.
> 
> I edit and proofread everything myself, so forgive me for any grammatical errors. Thank you and enjoy! :)

One night, cold and cruel and unlike any other night, a lone seeker lay unmoving in a small, dark cell.

There was barely any light— only the soft glow emitting from the laser bars the kept the cell closed off. The cell itself was too cramped for a flight-frame; the scrapes along the wall from the seeker grazing his wings testified to how small the cell was.

It was not an ideal place to be for a seeker, as small and dark as it was.

However, it wasn't like he was here by choice. Far from it, in fact.

A low moan emitted from the seeker's vocalizer as his optics flickered online, a dull reddish color. The seeker shifted slightly, placing a hand across his chestplates as he tried to figure out what was going on. He couldn't remember much and that was alarming. However, he could barely find the strength to care and that was even worse.

Something was wrong though, he knew that much.

A sub-routine was running in the background of his processor, one he didn't recognize. Focusing on the anomaly, he pulled it up and frowned. That couldn't be right...

Hastily, he ran a diagnostics scan and when the results came back, he gasped.

No, no, no... this couldn't be happening!

Not to him!

Not here!

Panic flared inside him and he sat up in a hurry, wings scraping along the walls as he stared down at his frame as if he had no idea who it belonged to anymore. His hand drifted down to rest on his abdominal plating and he sucked in a vent when he felt a strong pulse of energy from inside. Primus! There was really a—

As if on cue, an alert popped up.

_Emergence 12%_

Aghast, he could only stare at the alert in utter horror. He couldn't do this here! He couldn't even remember how he'd got here much less where this was. There had been a battle, he suddenly remembered. He had been ambushed as soon as he had arrived on Cybertron although he couldn't remember who the perpetrators were and that was worrisome. 

As he rifled through his memory banks, he came to the conclusion he was missing data. Apprehensive, he tried to run a deeper scan but the damn sub-routine was taking up most of his energy and to add to the problem, his chrono wasn't working and his comms were locked off. Perfect! He had no way of telling how much time had passed since he had been captured.

Another progress alert popped up.

_Emergence 18%_

Primus, he couldn't catch a break.

How was he to prepare for this? There was no medic, no berth, no blanket-mesh, no trine, no... anything! Nothing about this situation was acceptable parameters for a mech in his condition!

_Emergence 19%_

Fraggit!

The seeker shifted, uncomfortable and cramped. His wings twitched nervously, wingtips scraping against the cell walls. Tension curled in his abdomen and he tried to relieve the building tightness by leaning against the wall. His core temperature was rising and soon his cooling fans would kick on to help alleviate the heat.

Groaning, he placed both hands on his pelvis, digits clenching over his plating as the knot in his tanks clenched. His back was starting to pain him and leaning against the wall wasn't helping it. Irritated, the seeker shuffled around his cell, trying in vain to find a comfortable position. It was impossible to do so, however. The cell was too small, his wings too big for such tight confines and his flight-protocols were glitching and threatening to overwhelm him with claustrophobia. 

It seemed like forever for the next alert to appear. Waiting only served to worsen his nerves and moving about agitated his flight-protocols. He needed to stretch out, to get up and pace, to do something other than writhe uncomfortably in this cold dark place.

_Emergence 20%_

His powerful jet engine sputtered as a pulse of pain shot through his pelvis, straight up into his spark chamber. The seeker blinked rapidly in the darkness and moved a hand up to clutch fearfully at his chestplates. Was that supposed to happen? Wracking his memory banks for anything and everything he knew about emergences, he came up with only a brief and entirely-too-short-to-be-of-much-help medical excerpt he had scanned during his days at the academy during a routine health check-up. All the fragging thing had said was that emergences were a slow and painful process and that the expectant carrier was to be aided by an experienced medic to ensure the best possible outcome for both the carrier and the sparkling.

Frustrated, the seeker snarled and punched the wall. Well, there were certainly no medics down here to attend to him, that was for Primus-damned sure.

Why was this even happening to him in the first place? What happened to contraception? It wasn't like he was reckless with his frame and didn't take any precautions during interface. He wasn't Skywarp. No, he shouldn't even _be_ in this position let alone captured by the enemy and stuck in some forlorn cell, forgotten about until some block-headed moron remembered they had the Decepticon Second in Command in their brig.

Another alert sprung up.

_Emergence 27%_

A whimper escaped Starscream as the knot of pressure tightened even further. Tension flowed throughout his frame, causing the array behind his pannel to throb and the struts of his back to ache. Ugh, couldn't this go any quicker? How long did he have to suffer through this?

Vents quickening, he tried closing his eyes and visualizing the sky. That usually helped calm him down.

Ex-venting harshly, he trembled with longing as he pictured a cloudless blue horizon. He imagined the rays of sunshine warming his plating and the wind against his wings as he soared through the sky. His wings would catch the blustering gales and he would kick his thrusters into overdrive, dancing in the sky, proving to all those confined to the ground that he, Starscream, was master of the skies. No one could surpass him. He was untouchable.

Choking out a sob, he _forced_ himself to concentrate on the feeling of flight and the sky that called to his spark— anything to keep himself from remembering reality.

As Starscream climbed higher and higher into the neverending sky, he pictured his trinemates on either side of him. Skywarp flew to his left, wingtips obnoxiously brushing against his own wings as his trinemate leered closer, threatening to push him out of the wind current they rode. Annoyed, Starscream would move himself back into position only for his purple trinemate to close in on him again, forcing him back even further, challenging him to a game they had played thousands of times before. Smirking, Starscream could picture himself rising to the challenge, gliding close to Skywarp and forcing them off course and into a tight spiral. He would swoop underneath Skywarp and over the other side, suddenly veering in close, forcing his errant trinemate to move with him less they crash together. It was a trineleader's job to govern and guide his trinemates, to compose a dance all three could execute seamlessly while keeping everyone together as if they flew as one instead of three. Skywarp would submit to his leadership and the two would move in tandem with each other, gliding off each other's wind currents and sailing through the sky side by side.

Once Skywarp had been effectively reigned in, Thundercracker would join back up, positioning himself on Starscream's right. While normally Thundercracker kept a level head and focused on flying, occasionally he would dip and barrel roll away, only to come soaring back up into position. Starscream would rebuke him by changing course and pushing both trinemates into a steep climb as they rushed to follow him. As soon as they caught up, Starscream would jerk to the right, forcing Thundercracker into the same dip and barrel roll, mirroring his movements until the last moment, then he would sail over Thundercracker back into his rightful position as the center and leader of the trine. The purpose of this exercise was to remind Thundercracker that if he was going to go off on his own, his trine would follow and they would do it together or not at all. The trineleader had to make sure each seeker was on the same track and that they flew as one and not alone.

Starscream felt tears of coolant run down his faceplate. His wings quivered with the need to fly and his spark longed for the sky so much it hurt.

_Emergence 34%_

Pain bloomed in his back at the base of his wings and he grit his denta, optics flashing in the dark. He tried to lay down again but smashed a wing against the wall instead. Frustration mounted and he jerked back, long white legs collapsing awkwardly underneath him as he tried to right himself.

There was no room in this damned cell!

No room at all!

Gasping, he tried to move again, trying desperately to keep himself from panicking.

Hands placed against the wall, Starscream dug the tips of his claws into the metal and tried to pull himself upright. Pain spiked and his wings trembled as he clawed at the wall, face contorting in an effort to contain the scream caught in his throat. His legs barely had any strength left in them and he whined, afraid and restless.

_Emergence 38%_

Sliding down the wall, forehelm scraping the metal, he panted and clutched at his middle, a deep pain making itself known in his internals. It throbbed harshly like a dull blade had buried itself deep within his gut.

Primus, let this be over with soon!

Only there was no telling how long this was going to take. He had no idea how long he had been awake nor how long he would last like this. Everything seemed to be moving either too fast or too slow, as if Starscream was stuck in a torturous loop.

Lubricant began welling up behind his panel and he sobbed, thighs clenching as a hand flew to the heated metal between his legs. His whole body shook as he shuttered his optics and let loose a piercing scream.

He didn't want to do this here!

He didn't want to do this at all!

Why was this happening to him?!

He just wished somebody would come in and make it stop. That his trine would find him and rescue him before the pain ate him away. That or some Autobot that would shoot him and end his suffering. Either one would do, Starscream didn't care. He just wanted this over with.

_Emergence 40%_

All this time and he was only at forty percent? No, no, it felt so much longer!

Or shorter?

Time seemed to mix itself up here.

Starscream had never been in a situation so out of control. Never had he been robbed of the simple ability to stand up or to think rationally. Everything was a jumbled mess of pain and confusion as he tried to sort out what was happening to his frame and how to fix it or at least alleviate some discomfort. Yet, nothing seemed to help.

Whining, he rubbed his middle and willed the process to quicken. He felt like someone had filled his internals with molten lead and stabbed him with a white-hot poker. His wings ached and his tanks clenched and unclenched, his engine releasing steam with an angry hiss as his knees buckled and the floor rushed up to meet him. Something snapped on the way down and energon streamed down a wing as Starscream lay dazed and panting on the floor of the cell, unable to do anything but stare listlessly at the wall.

Everything hurt.

He couldn't think straight.

His spark spun too slowly and he felt like the world had been turned upside down.

_Emergence 45%_

'' Primus... _make it stop_ ,'' the seeker moaned, optics flickering weakly.

Without warning, a wave of pain washed over him and he moaned loudly, hands fisting as his claws scraped the floor. His valve throbbed and cycled down on nothing, calipers clenching as they prepared for the coming storm. Lubricant had escaped his panel and trickled down his thighs, creating small pools beneath him.

It hurt, oh, it hurt.

Another wave of pain overtook him, his fans stuttering as they struggled to expel the rising heat.

_Emergence 46%_

Starscream lay unmoving on the floor. His optics dulled as a tidal wave of pain crashed down on him, a strained and broken noise escaping him.

This was worse than anything he had ever been through before. He had been shot, stabbed, poisoned and beaten so thoroughly he lost consciousness but never in his life had he experienced such agony as this. This... this was Pit.

_Emergence 49%_

Almost there, he tried to tell himself. He even tried picturing Skywarp and Thundercracker beside him, stroking his wings and encouraging him, telling him that he was not alone and that everything would be alright. Skywarp would probably try to joke about the situation and Starscream would swat at him in response while Thundercracker stroked his trineleader's wings, humming with amusement. His blue trinemate would then make 'Warp settle down so Starscream could focus on the grueling task that was sparkling-birth.

Optics brightening at another surge of pain, he screamed and panted heavily, vents huffing with exertion.

'' Thunder... cracker, Sky-Sky-warp, pleaaaseee,'' he whimpered as the pressure between his legs built,'' Someone... _pleaseee_...''

_Emergence 50%_

A contraction hit him and he screamed again, his voice bouncing off the confines of the cell.

His panel snapped back and he groaned. Lubricant flooded down the insides of his thighs and a maddening pressure throbbed somewhere inside him.

Protocol took over and Starscream spread his legs weakly, trying to accommodate for what would come. A hand scraped across the ground to rub gingerly at his abdomen, encouraging the protoform to start its descent.

_Emergence 51%_

The sparkling dropped into position and Starscream screamed, vocalizer shorting out mid-way through.

Time flew by and everything started to blur together.

He was hot, then he was cold.

He was awake, then he senseless.

Memories floated back to the surface unbidden.

-

_'' What makes Shockwave's_ _device so superior? I built one identical to it last cycle and you refused to see it but here you are, fawning over something Shockwave cooked up in one of his dingy labs over something your Second in Command—''_

_'' Silence, Starscream! I am not obligated by any means to explain my reasons to you, you treacherous—''_

_Metal clashed and there was a hiss of pain._

_'' You never treat Shockwave like this!''_

_'' Shockwave doesn't try to backstab me at every opportunity nor he doesn't constantly fail me as you continue to do!''_

**Disappointment.**

_'' Maybe if you weren't such a reckless and terrible leader I wouldn't try to rid the universe of you! You never listen to a word I say and can't take any criticism! You'd lead us into the Pit and shake hands with the Slagmaker himself if that's what you thought would grant you victory.''_

_'' As if you could do better, Starscream.''_

**Rage.**

_'' —never give me a chance! All you do is—''_

_'' No one can turn their back on you! Your treachery lies ingrained in your very spark. You would betray even yourself for power and glory and you think you're better than me? We are far too alike, you and I.''_

_'' I am nothing like you!''_

_'' That is where you are wrong, my nest of vipers. If I got even one iota of cooperation from you, perhaps none of this would be necessary. You have only yourself to blame, Starscream.''_

**Humility.**

_'' Don't touch me!''_

_'' Don't act like you don't want it. You're practically soaked, just waiting for me to_ _—''_

**Shame.**

_'' —ever given you permission to use me like this!''_

_'' I believe we made an agreement, Starscream. One you came up with yourself.''_

_'' Thiswas never part of the agreement and you know it!''_

_There was a sigh and sometime later, charge crackled between frames and heated moans filled the air._

**Longing.**

_'' Why do you have to make everything so difficult, Starscream?! It is like you have something against being happy—''_

_'' — as if! Have you ever thought about trusting me? That the things I say might be important or that maybe you should listen to me instead of Soundwave for once? Why am I even your Second in Command if you never listen to a word I say—''_

_'' Soundwave doesn't lie to me! You will earn my trust when you quit lying to me, betraying me and for Primus' sake, stop trying to assassinate me! Starscream, just think about it! If for once in your life, you relaxed and didn't let your hunger for power cloud your processor, don't you think that you might find something worth pursuing...''_

_Someone grasped his hand and gently placed it on a powerful silver chest._

_''... right here?''_

**Sorrow.**

_'' Is there anything you don't destroy?_

_'' — tried everything, Starscream. I am tired of trying to make this work when you—''_

_'' You act like the problem rests solely on me... have you ever thought that maybe the problem isn't just me, it's you?''_

**Regret.**

_'' — don't you dare walk away from me! I'm not done talking!''_

_'' No, we are done talking. We are done, period.''_

_'' No, I—''_

_'' This. Is. Over.''_

-

A wail arose in the dark and optics blinked online for the first time.

A weak vocalizer spat static and a final shudder went through great white wings.

_Emergence 100%_

Process complete.

Breems later, the laser bars disappeared and a shadow moved into the cell.


	2. Dilemma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I added and deleted some tags because I am finished fleshing out the plot. Yay! I might add more as I go on, due to finer details being hammered out but we're good for now.
> 
> Also, here are the Transformers time measurements I'm using:  
> -
> 
> Klik: seconds.  
> Breem: minutes.  
> Joor: hours.  
> Orn: days.  
> Half-cycle: weeks.  
> Cycle: months.  
> Vorn: years.  
> Deca-vorn: decade.  
> Centri-vorn: century.
> 
> -  
> (In case you haven't noticed, I made some up for convenience's sake)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the second chapter! Thank you for the hits and kudos!

_**8 Joors Earlier...** _

-

In Moonracer's opinion, the battle had gone swimmingly.

She and Flareup had done their part without any complications and overall mission success had been achieved. It was rare the Autobot Femme's ever saw a real victory and yesterorn had definitely been a battle to remember. Billowing pillars of flame, heavy blaster fire and the deafening explosions provided by Flareup all made for one epic battle.

However, there was a slight problem... one she and Flareup had willfully neglected for as long as physically possible.

'' You tell'er!''

'' No, you!''

'' Uh-uh, I told'er about that scraplet nest last cycle and got janitorial duty for orns! It's _your_ turn to tell'er!''

Moonracer groaned. There was no way Chromia would take this well. The Lieutenant would have her helm for neglecting to inform her about their 'slight problem' for so long.

'' Your her favorite,'' Moonracer pleaded desperately,'' Please?! Chromia is going to skin me alive and present my plating to the Commander if _I'm_ the one to tell her!''

Flareup remained unmoved by her outburst.

'' It was your idea in the first place, Moon,'' the red and black femme said, shaking her helm,'' I didn't want anything to do with'em but you were the one that insisted—''

Moonracer swayed back and forth on her pedes anxiously, tuning out the rest of her friend's sentence. This was a disaster! If only she had left well enough alone and called Chromia to deal with the problem. Flareup was right, it was all her fault. Even her friend knew involving their superior was practically suicide. Moonracer would sooner face down _Shockwave_ than inform Chromia of the 'slight problem' residing in the base's seldom used brig.

''—are you listening to me, Moonracer?''

Moonracer jumped. '' Er, yes! Of course, Flareup! I will totally take your advice and get to it!'' she chirruped with a playful salute, praying to Primus her friend didn't question her.

Flareup rolled her optics and threw her hands up. '' Whatever you do, don't mention me,'' she muttered pensively,'' If I were you, I'd uh— you know.''

Moonracer stared at her uncomprehending. '' You... know... _what_?''

The red and black femme groaned and rubbed her faceplate as if she was getting a sudden helmache. Moonracer winced at the gesture. Chromia did it a lot when she did something wrong. Now Flareup was doing it too?

'' I mean, umm, take care of it... as quietly as possible,'' her friend managed to answer eventually but Moonracer still had no idea what she was talking about.

Shaking her helm, exasperated and confused, the turquoise femme shook Flareup's shoulders. '' Take care of what?! What are you talking about?'' she begged, inches away from having a processor meltdown.

Flareup only shook her helm, dislodging Moonracer and pushing her away, an unreadable expression on her faceplates. '' I dunno, okay! You shoulda left him in the rubble and let him burn!''

Moonracer jerked away as if burned herself. Optics wide, she gawked at the red and black femme. '' Wh-what? But we're Autobots! We can't just—''

Flareup glared at her, suddenly angry. '' No no, you don't seem to get it! Decepticons don't deserve mercy, Moonracer! If you had been the one laying there, you'd have been shot or left to die. Ugh, why do _I_ have to tell you this!? You should already know this, Moon!''

Moonracer's gaze fell to the rusty floor panels beneath her pedes. Anxiously, she scuffed a pede across the floor, gathering rust on her toe pedes and shaking it off. '' Sorry...'' she whispered, unsure if she should say anything else. Flareup was right after all.

Flareup sighed, awkwardly reaching out to pat Moonracer's shoulder but the turquoise femme jerked away, out of reach. Realizing what she had done, Moonracer's helm snapped up and she opened her mouth to apologize but for some reason, the words got stuck in her throat. Closing her mouth in fear of looking like a bigger idiot, Moonracer ducked away from her friend, hurriedly trying to come up with an excuse to escape.

'' Uh yeah, well, I gotta go,'' she said lamely, optics downcast,'' I'll do something about it, I promise... and I won't say anything about you if I do tell... Chromia.''

At Flareup's uncharacteristic silence, the turquoise femme looked up only to find her friend staring at the floor like she had been doing moments before. '' Flareup?'' she asked timidly.

After a brief silence between the two, Flareup eventually nodded and waved Moonracer hasty goodbye before disappearing down the corridor.

Well, that hadn't gone well, Moonracer thought dismally. Now what?

Walking down the hall in the opposite direction Flareup went, Moonracer debated what to do.

Involving Chromia was a definite no-go.

Flareup herself didn't want anything to do with Moonracer and her 'problem'.

So...

Did she leave the matter alone and whenever anyone went down to the brig, feign innocence? No, Flareup would never be able to keep a straight face if questioned and Moonracer wasn't any better at deceit. That was Firestar's department.

So what did she do? And what had Flareup meant when she had suggested to ''take care of it''?

Venturing down into the armory, she threw herself onto one of the benches with a frustrated huff.

'' Difficult day?'' Lancer asked, without looking up from her rifle cleaning.

Moonracer shrugged and then had a thought.

'' Hey, Lancer? Can I ask you a question?'' she asked hesitantly.

The orange femme grunted and Moonracer had no idea what that meant so she waited patiently for a more favorable response. 

For a few breems, Lancer merely continued her task, seemingly ignoring Moonracer until she began to wonder if the older femme had forgotten she was even in the room. Eventually, Lancer spoke,'' Sure, what is it?''

Never one to hold back, Moonracer immediately blurted out,'' When someone is trying to be sneaky and they tell you to ''take care'' of something, what do they mean?''

Lancer's helm came up so fast, Moonracer winced at the femme's sudden movement and scuttled away down the bench in response. The orange femme's visor glinted thoughtfully and Moonracer had the distinct feeling she was being studied. Shifting uncomfortably under the Weapons Specialist's intense gaze, she twisted her digits and stared at hole into the floor. Primus help her, she had only asked a question!

'' Well before I answer your question, why don't you tell me who is trying to be sneaky?'' Lancer inquired after a moment, her attention finally moving back to the rifle in her lap.

Moonracer's spark span rapidly and she bit her derma, hastily trying to come up with a cover story while not incriminating herself and Flareup which she had promised _not_ to do. '' Uhh, it's no big deal really! Me and Override, um—'' _Scrap, she was getting poor innocent Override mixed into this?!_ '' —found a couple of unexpired rust-sticks! Override gave them to me and told me to take care of it. And I don't know what she meant...''

There! How was that cover story?

Lancer's helm was up and her visor fixed on Moonracer again and the turquoise femme quailed under the intensity of it. If Lancer were Chromia, Moonracer would already be out the door and desperately speeding down the hallway.

'' Suuuurrre,'' Lancer drawled, gaze once more returning to her gun as she ran a polishing cloth across its surface.

'' Yup! So I just wanted to know what she meant, you know,'' she laughed awkwardly, hands twisting nervously in her lap.

Lancer snorted and hefted the rifle to check its sights. '' Usually, when someone says to take care of something, they mean for you to get rid of it. Usually in a discreet manner as not to draw attention to oneself and risk potential trouble. What I think Override means is just for you to hide them someplace. Can't see why she would tell you to dispose of some perfectly good rust-sticks so it must be the latter,'' Lancer explained blandly, swapping the now-clean rifle out for another one in need of cleaning.

Moonracer's optics widened at her words and she looked down, brow creased in thought. Flareup wanted her to... get rid of him?

'' How do you get rid of something? If someone is talking about the first thing you said?'' she asked, hoping Lancer wouldn't question her need to know.

She was in luck for Lancer replied,'' Say someone has accidentally let a scraplet into the storage. They tell their superior and instead of causing a panic, their superior takes them aside and tells them to take care of it. So they take a blaster and kill the scraplet, get rid of its corpse and pretend the whole thing never happened. Problem solved with minimal fuss.'' Lancer looked up at her. '' That answer your question?''

Moonracer nodded, optics blown wide now that she fully understood what Flareup had been trying to tell her.

After a long while, she stood and made her way out, mumbling a quiet 'thanks _'_ to Lancer as she left.

She couldn't believe what she had been told.

Shaking her helm, Moonracer tried to clear her processor but felt like the screaming instead. She hadn't expected this and she felt more lost than ever now.

The Decepticons were cruel and merciless, everyone knew that. She would be doing the Autobots a favor, especially considering just _who_ the Decepticon in the brig was. This could be a major step to ending the war, she knew. Without Starscream, the Decepticons were sure to falter and the Autobots on Earth led by Optimus Prime could take advantage of their momentary weakness and end the war at last.

However, she would be murdering a defenseless mech to achieve that.

Coming to a stop in the middle of a deserted hallway, she delicately placed a hand over her spark. It didn't matter how she looked at it, the whole thing felt wrong. Yet, another part of her, the Autobot part, urged her to take action. Starscream was one of the baddest of the bad! He was the Second in Command of the entire Decepticon army for crying out loud and here Moonracer was, having an internal debate about putting down a dangerous threat; a mech who wouldn't hesitate to blast her helm off and kill her friends if given the chance. 

Ugh.

Did she or didn't she?

Was she brave enough to take the plunge?

Could she do what no other had managed to do before?

Letting out a disappointed sigh, Moonracer already knew the answer.

Shoulders sagging, she headed for her habsuite, hoping against all odds a solution could be found before it was too late.

* * *

_**Five Joors Later...** _

-

Lancer made her way to the control deck, her winglets shivering as the temperature increased the closer she got to her destination.

The Lieutenant had commed her with the order to report to deck and hadn't said anything further on the subject. The Lieutenant had been so curt and brief with her words that Lancer immediately knew something was up. Trouble was, she hadn't the foggiest clue as to what had Chromia's wires in a twist.

She was soon to find out judging by Firestar's pensive expression and Greenlight's fidgeting as she arrived in front of the control deck door.

Lancer nodded respectfully to Firestar and took up position beside Greenlight.

Opening up a comm line to her conjunx, she asked _.: Hey, everything alright? :._

Greenlight shifted quietly, glancing at the door before replying. _.: I don't know. I'm just getting a bad feeling about this. Firestar was here before me and she said she heard the Commander yelling inside. :._

Lancer winced. _.: Doesn't sound good. :._

_.: Yeah. :._ Then after a few kliks, _.: How much do you want to bet it has something to do with the battle yesterorn? :._

Just then the door slid open and the Lieutenant's voice drifted out into the hallway,'' Come in.''

Greenlight and Lancer looked at each other before quickly obeying.

The Commander and Lieutenant Chromia stood at the front of the room looking over the blue holo-map spread out across the central monitor. Each officer took their designated positions on either side of the monitor, Firestar to the left and Lancer and Greenlight standing together on the right. A quick inspection of the deck told Lancer that they were down an officer. Karmen, their communications officer, seemed not to be present and she wondered where the femme was. Karmen was lackadaisical but she never missed an officer's meeting.

Turning her attention to the center monitor, Lancer examined the section of the map their superiors had enlarged. She stiffened as she recognized the place.

She pinged Greenlight who hadn't stopped her fidgeting. _.: Hey, looks like you were right, 'Reen. Take a look at the map. :._

Greenlight's gaze fell to the map and she sucked in a vent. Returning her attention to the map, Lancer noticed it had a yellow ring around one area with a building structure that was highlighted in red in the very center. Close to the highlighted area, lay Shockwave's fortress, highlighted in a light purple color, red marking the border and specific security posts.

Just yesterorn, a significant battle had taken place right outside the compound. The last Lancer had heard was that Shockwave had placed the entire compound on lockdown and had every seeker trine in his command combing the surrounding area. Drones, likewise, were searching the ground area and had been doing so ever since the battle ended and the Autobot Femme's retreated, content with their brief victory over the Decepticons.

It was satisfying to see that Shockwave was finally taking them seriously instead of treating them like nuisances. The downside was that they would have to be more cautious when venturing beyond the base. However, in Lancer's opinion, they already lived life on a blade's edge so the extra precautions the Commander would likely enforce would be nominal.

The Lieutenant cleared her intake and Lancer's gaze snapped up from the holo-map.

'' Thank you all for responding to my summons,'' Lieutenant Chromia began, nodding to her assembled subordinates,'' As you all already know, we fought against Shockwave and his forces for possession over space bridge parts yesterorn. It was a brutal battle of which severely wounded four of our soldiers— Discharge, Clipper, Rosanna, and Flip Sides. Rosanna, Discharge and Flip Sides are expected to recover while Clipper remains in critical care.''

Greenlight looked down at the Lieutenant's words and Lancer had to refrain from reaching out and taking her hand. _.: It's not your fault, 'Reen. :._

Her conjunx's sapphire blue eyes slid over to her but she said nothing over the comm line.

'' Fortunately, our comrade's sacrifices were not in vain. We were able to steal a good portion of Shockwave's space bridge parts as well as the blueprints in order to construct our own space bridge. While we have the blueprints, we do not have the required materials to build with yet, which means as of now we will most likely be focusing our efforts on seizing construction resources from Shockwave as well as energon.''

The corners of Lancer's lips quirked at this and she pulsed feelings of excitement and satisfaction through her bond with Greenlight. However, Greenlight's response was subdued and lacking the same zeal her conjunx possessed. Lancer's helm turned slightly to peer worriedly at her conjunx before turning her attention back to Chromia when her superior started speaking again.

The sky blue femme was now holding a data-slug and her expression had turned stony. '' While the Commander and I are proud of everyone's achievements, we have something to tell you all,'' the Lieutenant paused briefly to allow her optics to fall on each one of them,'' We did not know this until several hours ago when Karmen intercepted an encrypted frequency sent by Shockwave to Acid Storm. It took Karmen several joors to unencrypt the message and the contents were highly unexpected. '' Chromia then plugged the data-slug into one of the monitor's ports and an audio file began to play.

The feedback was heavily laced with static but the words were still audible.

_'' Have you found any sign of him yet?''_ Shockwave's deep voice blared from the monitor speakers.

Acid Storm's first few words were lost in static, _''—trace so far. Neither have the drones for that matter. Two of them had to be rescued from the rubble because their navigation chips were apparently unable compute the new craters along the road thanks to the Femme's demolitions.''_

_'' Craters are of no importance to me, Captain. The designated search area is a mere 10 megamiles in diameter, therefore I fail to see how you have nothing useful to report,''_ Shockwave admonished, sounding cross.

There was a storm of static that everyone winced at, then, _'' If Commander Starscream were here, we would have found him by now. I believe he was captured by the Femme's as we can find no sign of his demise.''_

Shockwave was quick to respond with, _'' There is a 49% chance that the Commander's frame was vaporized when Elita One's rabble demagnetized the space bridge archs. In response to their obnoxious ministrations, the photon generator discharged a considerable amount of energy, of which I have already estimated could have completely dissolved the Commander's mass signature before—''_

Acid Storm's voice was sharp and heated, _'' Cut the scientific slag, Shockwave! Commander Starscream wasn't vaporized by some energy surge because I have_ visual reports _from Sunstorm's trine that Starscream was seen during the battle. It is highly likely, more likely than your ridiculous claim he was vaporized, that Elita One took him captive!''_

_'' My hypothesis is not_ slag _, Acid Storm and you_ will _face retribution for speaking to me in such a way,''_ Shockwave responded monotonously,'' _There is no need to continue this farce any longer. I am ordering you and your seekers to return to base. The Commander's loss is regrettable and I will inform Lord Megatron as such.''_ Then after a brief pause. _'' Do_ not _disobey my orders, Captain.''_

The audio file ended with a _blip_ sound.

The silence that befell the control deck was thick with tension and Lancer shifted her weight from one pede to another, supremely uncomfortable with it.

Shock could be seen everyone's faceplate except the Lieutenant and Commander's.

Confusion dominated Lancer's processor, however. There was no way Starscream had been in that battle, she would have seen him, having been the one that led the initial charge against the compound. Furthermore, none of Shockwave's seekers had paint jobs similar to Starscream's so there was no mistaking them for the flashy tricolor seeker.

Clearing her throat, Lancer caught the attention of the Lieutenant. '' Sir, I would have seen Starscream had he been present. There's no mistaking him for one of Acid Storm's mechs.''

The Lieutenant nodded in agreement, having also been close to the action herself. '' While I am in agreement with you, Lancer, you heard the message. Starscream was or should have been present during the battle according to Acid Storm and Shockwave.''

Firestar stepped forward, adding,'' From what I heard, Starscream was either using the space bridge at the time of its disassembly by Flareup and Moonracer or he was within close proximity to it, close enough that _Shockwave_ thinks he got vaporized. However, I find that hard to believe given that Starscream's file clearly states he was a scientist before the war. He would have recognized the danger of staying by the unstable energies of the space bridge and gotten out of there unless he was incapacitated in some way. However, since not one of our soldiers report engaging him, it is unlikely he participated in combat at all. If he had and even if no one reported it, someone would have mentioned him in passing by now.''

Lancer grunted in agreement and said,'' So that rules out the possibility that he got vaporized, which would have been nice, however unlikely.''

'' So he's still alive somewhere,'' Greenlight murmured to herself, voice audible to only Lancer.

The Commander stepped forward, the ghostly pink of her plating glinting in the dim lighting of the control deck. '' Before now, we had no idea Starscream was on Cybertron. Something I find highly suspicious. Yet, we have both Acid Storm and Shockwave confirming his presence despite seeming to have _misplaced_ him.''

Lancer frowned at that and looked back at the map. None of this made any sense and she could tell Greenlight thought so too by the swirl of doubt and confusion at her conjunx's end of the bond.

'' Have Flareup and Moonracer been questioned yet?'' Firestar asked,'' They were the ones closest to the space bridge so if anyone saw something it would be those two.''

The Commander folded her arms and replied,'' No, they have not been questioned yet but rest assured they soon will be. I will personally see to it.''

Lancer's frown deepened at the Commander's words and she studied the pink femme. Elita One's faceplate was expressionless and her optics cold. A perfect blend of fierce intelligence and intimidating authority which made Lancer pity Moonracer and Flareup. She remembered how poorly Moonracer had handled their conversation in the armory. The youngling had been beside herself with worry and only over a few rust-sticks at that.

She really hoped the two hadn't seen anything because they were in a world of trouble if they had.

* * *

_**2 Joors Later...** _

-

Flareup hummed a jaunty tune to herself as she grabbed a cube from the energon dispenser in the mess room. She walked with a spring in her step and a breezy expression on her faceplate, smiling and waving to Windy and her group who sat at their usual table. Normally she would join them but today, she preferred the peace of her habsuite over the boisterous laughing and joking that went on at Windy's table.

Leaving the mess room, she made her way down the corridor towards her habsuite, making sure to keep up her cheery persona as she passed by people. In reality, she was anything but cheerful at the moment.

She couldn't get the conversation with Moonracer out of her head. And of course, the nagging fact that Starscream was in the brig.

Flareup had selfishly blamed Moonracer for the Decepticon's presence when in reality, it was both of their faults. Even if it had been Moonracer's idea to bring him back, Flareup had, at the time, supported her friend's idea. She had also been the one to drag the unconscious seeker into the brig.

It all came down to a fear of retribution. She was afraid of what her mentor, Chromia, would say— that Flareup had been too cowardly to shoot Starscream and had let herself be swayed by a youngling with processor issues.

She felt bad, she really did. The whole situation was bad enough to give her a processor ache even though she had washed her hands of the mess joors ago, dumping Moonracer with the job of figuring out what to do.

Flareup was a bad friend and it hurt realizing that.

Yet, she couldn't force herself to take responsibility. She just couldn't— _wouldn't._

Stopping in front of her shared habsuite with Chromia, she sighed and rubbed her at optics tiredly. Maybe after she refueled and got some recharge, she would feel better about the whole thing.

Keying in the door code, she was about to step inside when she noticed who was inside.

Elita One sat at Chromia's desk, elbows poised on the desk surface and hands folded in front of her face. Her optics were as cold as a ice as she gazed at Flareup and said,'' Come inside, Flareup. Don't loiter outside like a vagrant.''

Optics wide, Flareup scrambled to obey and nearly spilled her energon all over herself in the process. Oh Primus, my side of the room looks like a tornado hit it, she realized and made to subtly kick a few datapads under the berth.

She managed an awkward grin and waved sheepishly at the older femme. '' Oh wow, Commander! I didn't- um, I had no idea you would be here or I definitely would have—''

Elita One didn't bat an optic at the mess Flareup was obviously trying to hide. And why would she? She had obviously been sitting there for a while and had already noticed Flareup's horrendous clutter. Gesturing for her to take a seat, Elita One spoke,'' I am not here to judge your cleanliness, Flareup. The state of your quarters is my Lieutenant's responsibility. ''

Taking a seat on her berth and placing her energon to the side, Flareup asked,'' Ah, okay then. That's a relief, I guess. Uhm, what are you here for, if you don't mind me asking? Chromia— I mean, _the Lieutenant_ — won't get off shift for another couple of joors, soo...''

Elita One leaned forward a bit, optics darkening. '' I am here to ask you a few questions and I would appreciate your complete honesty when answering them.''

Uh oh,Flareup didn't like where this was going.

'' About what, Commander?'' she squeaked, shrinking under the intensity of her superior's gaze.

'' About Decepticon Air Commander Starscream.''

Flareup froze for about half a klik, then jumped up, shrieking,'' It was Moonracer's idea! I was totally against it but she- she said we couldn't shoot an unconscious mech no matter who it was and forced me to help her bring him back to base! Please, Commander, I thought the whole idea was slag but Moonracer insisted, she—''

Elita One held up a hand and Flareup's mouth snapped shut and she sat down in a hurry.

_Frag, frag, frag, frag, frag-_

'' I think you had better start from the beginning,'' the Commander demanded stonily and Flareup gulped.

_Frag._


	3. Puzzle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, thank you for all the kudos! Please enjoy the 3rd chapter, apologies for taking forever to upload it.

_**1 Joor Later - Present Time...** _

-

A trip to the washracks and a refuel later and Moonracer was feeling no better than she had joors ago.

She sat in her berth with her legs crossed, hunched over a datapad trying to concentrate on the stratagems Chromia had assigned her to study. She had only been at it for half a joor but her processor refused to cooperate.

For the billionth time, Moonracer wondered why she couldn't have left what should have been left alone, alone. Once again, she had screwed up. As she was prone to doing so terribly often.

Glacing at her chrono, Moonracer groaned and threw the datapad to the side, flopping back on her berth and covering her faceplate with her hands. These feelings weren't going to go away, were they. Distantly, she wished Flareup hadn't dumped all responsibility on her. She knew her friend was just as worried as she was but still, some support would have been nice.

'' What's eaten you, huh?'' she heard her roommate ask from across the room.

Moonracer huffed loudly and rolled over, squishing her faceplate into the hard berth padding. She wished she had blankets. She really missed the soft, fuzzy ones from the youngling center she had grown up in. While she knew they could afford no luxuries, she would have thought better berths might be a priority. How could you recharge with less than adequate berths? Wasn't recharge important for efficient functionality? If Moonracer was Commander, the first thing that got upgraded would be the berths, then maybe the tables in the mess room. The stains on those tables had to be a billion vorns old...

'' You ever gonna use your words? I can't read processors you know.''

Moonracer snickered and rolled over again, lifting her helm to peek at her roommate. '' Words are overrated.''

Override rolled her eyes from where she sat on her own berth, datapad in hand with the very same stratagems downloaded onto it. Her expression was one of fond exasperation with a small smile on her lips. '' Uh huh.'' Glancing back down at the datapad, Override sighed and tossed hers away, shaking her head,'' You know, I want to tell Chromia that I never remember these strategies long enough to use any of them but I think I'd just be wasting my time. Pit, I'd probably get saddled with more of them.''

Moonracer chirped in agreement as she sat up, hands folded in her lap.

Oh, yeah! Speaking of people you couldn't tell certain things—

'' If Lancer asks, tell her the rust-sticks got eaten and there aren't any more,'' Moonracer told her friend offhandedly, staring at the floor, lost in thought. Hopefully, Lancer wouldn't ask but then again the older femme had been rather skeptical earlier. It didn't hurt to cover one's tracks just in case.

_'' What?''_

Looking up, she found Override squinting at her with her mouth open.

Moonracer just shrugged and laid down again, grabbing the datapad and scrolling through the lessons. '' _If Lancer asks_ , tell her there aren't anymore rust-sticks.''

'' What?'' Override sounded even more confused,'' What in the name of Primus are you talking about now, Moon? If Lancer asks about rust-sticks? What rust-sticks?''

'' I told Lancer we had rust-sticks even though we don't. Don't ask me why but if she asks, tell her we don't have any, kay?'' she told her friend, feeling guilty about the whole thing. She shouldn't have gotten Override involved but it had already been said and done. She just hoped nothing more came of it.

'' You know I love you but sometimes you throw even me for a loop with the things you say,'' Override finally spoke, still sounding rather bewildered but the fondness had returned in her voice.

'' I know,'' Moonracer replied quietly. She knew she had processor issues but she tried her best regardless.

Silence lasped between the two femmes as they went back to their lessons.

Despite her efforts, Moonracer's thoughts kept veering back to the Decepticon in the brig. What if someone went down to brig and found him? Would the Commander question the whole base? Probably. And even if she didn't and no one went down there, Starscream would wake up eventually and start screeching or something, probably about the unacceptable amount of rust in his cell. Then someone would hear him and notify an officer and the Commander would get involved. It seemed that in every scenario, Starscream would be discovered and then Moonracer would get in trouble by default.

Ugh.

Hopping off the berth, she tossed the datapad over her shoulder and headed out the door, ignoring Override's concerned gaze.

Maybe she could knock him out before he started screeching? Just to buy her some more time? He wasn't that much bigger than her and she could just use one of those shock tritons Firestar used for interrogation to shock the seeker into compliance. Then she would be free to knock him out or better yet, drag him outside the base and leave him somewhere. Then no one would know she had done anything wrong and she could tell Flareup she had taken care of it.

Brightening with newfound determination, Moonracer hurried down to the brig, careful to avoid anyone on her way there.

When she arrived, she was relieved to find only one cell still in use, its occupant where they should be.

Coming closer to the cell, she peered in and took note of the crumpled form on the floor. It was so dark she couldn't see very much except the sharp outline of wings and—

Optics going wide, she crouched and stared into the cell, trying to puzzle out just what she was seeing.

Starscream seemed to be laying in a pinkish liquid, unmoving and in a heap, limbs and wings askew in uncomfortable angles. Then she noticed the pink droplets running down those white wings and gasped. How had she not noticed- a good third of his left wing was missing! Wires and circuitry hung limply from the damaged appendage and energon ran down in small streams.

Then a weak trill caught her attention.

She froze and cocked her head, gaze sliding to the left of Starscream, searching for the source of the noise.

Two dim red optics stared back at her, blinking slowly.

Starscream had red optics but his helm was somewhere to the right based on the angle of his wings. So what in Primus' name was that next to him?

After a while, she trilled back and then clapped her hands over her mouth. Oh Primus, she hadn't done that since- but why had she- that meant— an answering chirp confirmed her suspicions.

'' Oh Primus, that's a sparkling...'' Moonracer realized.

A new sort of terror dawned upon her. What did she do? What was going on? Where in the Primas-damned Holy Eighth Level _Pit_ had a sparkling come from?!

 _'' —just in here, Commander. He was unconscious last time I saw him so—''_ Flareup's voice suddenly echoed down the brig hallway and Moonracer jumped, shriek muffled by her hands still clasped over her mouth. Oh no, no, no, no-

 _'' Is he in stasis cuffs?''_ came the Commander's icy inquiry and Moonracer blanched.

NO, NO, NO, NO— her instincts were screaming at her to get out of there but at the same time, she didn't know what to do. The brig dead-ended, thus there was only one way out and there was no way she was sneaking past the Commander. No. way.

 _''—always checks the inventory so we didn't cuff him. I mean, he can't get out, can he?''_ Flareup quavered anxiously and Moonracer felt a spark of sympathy for her friend. Somehow Elita One had found out and poor Flareup was in trouble— and Moonracer was about to be too. While the right thing to do would be to give herself up and accept that she was screwed, a nagging voice urged her to do otherwise. She glanced back at the sparkling and gulped.

She had no idea where the sparkling had come from but if Elita One found both Starscream _and_ a sparkling in the same cell... Moonracer shuddered. She didn't even want to picture the sort of punishment she and Flareup would receive.

That left only one option... and as loathe as she was to dig herself a deeper grave, it wasn't like she was swimming in options right now.

She did what she had to.

And the only thing left to do was pray she had done the right thing.

* * *

'' He's just in here, Commander,'' Flareup told the stoic pink femme behind her,'' He was unconscious the last time I saw him so I don't know if he's woken up yet. Probably has. Its been a while since the battle. He wasn't in that bad a condition when we dragged him in here. I mean, for someone who got buried under a bunch of burning rubble caused by a thermonuclear explosion, he sure didn't get so much as a dent. If it had been anyone else, I bet they would've gotten blown to pieces.''

She knew she was rambling but Elita One had been eerily silent since she had told her the full story and offered to take her down to the brig. Not that the Commander needed an escort or anything but Flareup knew she was partially to blame for this mess and being as compliant as possible might help her case.

'' Is he in stasis cuffs?'' the Commander suddenly asked and Flareup just about jumped out of her plating.

'' Uh, um- uhhh,'' Flareup began eloquently, processor in the midst of smelting itself,'' Uh yeah, no. I mean, no, he isn't cuffed. Moonracer and I were more concerned about keeping him a secret and Lancer always checks the inventory so we didn't cuff him. I mean, he can't get out, can he?'' 

What kind of stupid question was that? Of course, Starscream could escape! Pit, he could probably dig his way out in less than a breem using those sharp talons of his! And of course they should have put him in stasis cuffs! How stupid were they?!

Oh Primus, if they got to the cell only to discover Starscream had somehow escaped then she might as well lock herself in a cell and save the Commander the trouble. 

As the two femme's approached the only activated cell, Flareup glanced inside and was relieved to find the prisoner was still there. Thank Primus.

Elita One, however, took one look inside and immediately frowned. '' You said he hadn't so much as a _dent_ , Flareup,'' the Commander stated, optics narrowed in suspicion,'' Starscream is covered in energon as is the cell.''

Flareup blinked at her superior stupidly for a few kliks before she slowly turned her helm to peer into the cell. Her vents stuttered pitifully at the sight. Energon was on the walls, spewed across the floor and it _was_ all over Starscream. He looked like a corpse.

Drawing back, trembling slightly, Flareup just shook her helm, confused and in shock.

Without further comment, Elita One deactivated the cell bars and stepped into the cell to examine the scene. She turned Starscream over with her pede and crouched over him, hand hovering over his throat cables. Flareup could only watch in stupor outside.

'' Send a comm to Greenlight. I want her clinical assessment,'' the Commander intoned after a moment.

Flareup immediately sent a quick message to Greenlight. '' Done, Commander.''

When Elita One didn't say anything for a while, Flareup took a hesitant step forward, asking,'' Is-is he dead?''

The Commander snorted, tapping her chin with her elegant fingers. She looked to be deep in thought as she stared down at the lifeless seeker at her pedes. '' Unfortunately not,'' she finally spoke,'' However, he will be if Greenlight doesn't see to him soon.''

Flareup's shoulders shook and she wrung her hands. '' I don't understand, Commander,'' she stammered, optics bouncing from her superior to the slack face of Starscream,'' He-he-he wasn't like this before! I didn't lie- he wasn't injured like this when we brought him in. I don't know wh-what happened...''

'' I believe you,'' the Commander assured her, her voice surprisingly gentle,'' This energon is not from wounds you could have given him.''

Flareup's brow furrowed. '' Th-then... what happened to him?''

The pink femme did not answer her.

Greenlight arrived shortly afterward.

'' I came as quickly as I could. Clipper's still in critical care so I—'' the quartermaster abruptly shut her mouth upon sight of Starscream.

Elita One only glanced at the shocked femme before gesturing to the prone seeker. '' I want a catalog of his wounds and I want to know just where all this energon has come from.'' The Commander paused, tapping her chin once again. '' While you examine him, see if you can't prevent him from offlining. He may prove useful if you can save him. If you cannot, then it was inevitable he die.''

Greenlight looked very green in the faceplate but didn't hesitate to kneel beside her new patient and get to work.

The two watched her work for a few kliks before the Commander looked over at Flareup and inclined her head. '' I want you to bring me Moonracer, Flareup,'' the Commander ordered, voice as cold as ice,'' I have a few questions for her.''

Flareup felt like someone had reached in and squeezed her spark. Oh no...

'' Yes, Commander,'' she heard herself say.

_Moonracer..._

* * *

When Flareup left, the Commander turned to Greenlight. '' Well, what has happened to him?''

Greenlight gulped and wiped her energon covered hands against her thighs. '' I'm not... entirely certain, Commander,'' the green femme responded quietly, optics roaming over the dirty frame in front of her,'' There are things I know for certain and others... others I'm not so sure about. It doesn't seem like all the puzzle pieces are here.''

'' What do you mean?''

Greenlight hesitated, her gaze falling on the junction between the seeker's thighs. '' When something happens that is seemingly impossible, it doesn't become any less improbable despite the facts staring you in the face. Only the problem here is that we are missing the key most important factor needed for my examination and diagnosis to be true.''

'' I did not ask for riddles, Greenlight. I asked for your verdict regardless of what you think of it,'' Elita One snapped and Greenlight winced at the harshness of it.

Venting deep, she forced herself to begin. '' The broken wing and the scrapes across the walls are self-explanatory. The cell is too small to house a flight-frame of Starscream's wing span. It is likely he suffered from acute claustrophobia and hurt himself trying to get out. His claws are bent and torn, suggesting he tried to claw his way out. However, there is considerably more energon spilt here than what a wing injury and some broken talons would cause.'' Greenlight paused, gathering her courage. She pushed the seeker's thighs apart, settling between them and hunkered down until she was level with the seeker's bared valve. It wasn't pretty— and although it might have been before, if what she thought had happened had actually happened, then the seeker's interface array would need cycles to recover.

'' Greenlight...'' the Commander growled in warning.

The green femme steeled herself. Gently, she probed at the split rim of the valve and pressed a finger in, faceplate contorting with both disgust and concentration. She didn't find what she was looking for immediately and had to press two fingers in and push them even further but in the end... she found what she was searching for. Withdrawing her fingers and resisting the urge to run off in search of solvent and a clean rag, she simply settled for placing her arms across her thighs and letting her contaminated hand dangle away from her.

'' Commander, I have reached a conclusion,'' she announced, feeling a little light-headed,'' Starscream has just gone through emergence. My estimate is that he went into labor about 6 or 7 joors ago. The gestation tank opening has cycled open and has no seal, something that only occurs during sparkling birth. Seeing as he is not currently in active labor and considering the amount of energon on the floor, I would say the emergence has just ended. His frame has locked itself into stasis which is probably the only reason he's still alive. His healing nanites are already hard at work but he has lost a lot of energon. He's going to need a transfusion and some stimulants. After he gets those, he should be fine and come out of stasis sometime tomorrow or the next day depending on how bad a condition his self-repair thinks he's in.''

An uncomfortable silence fell between commander and subordinate.

After a few breems, Greenlight dared to peek up at her Commander from under the brim of her helm.

Elita One looked furious.

Greenlight's eyes widened at the sheer hatred and murderous rage on the pink femme's faceplate. It wasn't an expression she had ever witnessed before. Elita was many things but murderous was not one of them. But this... the Commander looked _vengeful_.

'' If you are correct, Greenlight,'' the Commander began darkly,'' Then where is the sparkling?''

Greenlight's shoulder's slumped and she let out a pensive vent. '' I... I don't know, Commander. That's what I meant earlier when I said it seemed not all the puzzle pieces were here. His very frame is evidence a sparkling was born— there is no faking the state his gestation tank is in but— as you said... the sparkling itself seems to be missing.''

Elita One hissed, beginning to pace back and forth. '' This is unacceptable! Not only has _Starscream_ just given birth, his _spawn_ is also missing!''

Spawn? Greenlight wanted to ask but didn't dare to.

'' Get up and look for it!'' the Commander barked suddenly. '' I want it found immediately!''

Greenlight was up and searching in an instant.

Maybe the sparkling _had_ crawled away? No, that was ridiculous. Even in Greenlight's limited experience, she knew newborns were very weak upon birth. Sparklings only started crawling around when they had developed the motor skills for it and newborns were notoriously uncoordinated, requiring assistance and care for just about everything under the sun. They couldn't even roll over until they were several cycles old and Elita One thought this one had miraculously gotten up and left? How the Pit had it gotten passed the laser bars without electrocuting itself then? Their little systems were simple and weak, a shock like that would kill them almost instantly.

Five breems later of futile searching and Greenlight shook her helm. It wasn't here. Wherever the tiny thing had gotten off to, it definitely wasn't around here.

But one look at the Commander's face had her redoubling her efforts.

The pink femme looked like she just might murder _Greenlight_ if she stopped looking.

Another five breems later had Greenlight seriously considering that maybe the sparkling had zapped itself into oblivion with the laser bars. Maybe it had turned itself to dust? But however unlikely that was, Greenlight could find no explanation for it.

It had vanished.


	4. Regret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your comments and kudos. To be honest, it is those two things that brought me back to this fic and encouraged me to write another chapter. Life has been tough lately and I just didn't have the time nor the energy to focus on writing. Occasionally though, I would get email notifications about a kudos or commenter and I'd think about writing again. Eventually, I set aside some time and got down to business in order to bring you all this chapter. I will try my best to update more frequently but just in case I get preoccupied again, thank you all so much for the support you've shown so far.

This was the epitome of bad decisions.

Even a brain-dead insecticon would have known better.

Yet, here Moonracer was, wriggling through the vents inch by inch with a sparkling squished against her chassis. The sparkling, oddly enough, hadn't protested once during the whole ordeal of clambering into a teeny vent and getting squashed against a stranger's chestplates. They _had_ squeaked and whimpered when she had suddenly lunged into the cell and picked them up but after a few soothing warbles from Moonracer, they had quieted and let her have her way without further protest.

Moonracer could only hope they maintained their calm behavior until she could figure out what the _frag_ she was going to do next.

Not only had the Commander found Starscream like Moonracer had feared but she had also overheard the conversation between Greenlight and the Commander. Flareup was now looking for her on the Commander's orders and Greenlight had revealed some pretty big news.

Apparently, this sparkling belonged to _Starscream_.

Moonracer had not yet figured out her feelings concerning the origin of the sparkling she currently held and to be honest, she didn't really want to think too much about it. The simple revelation that Starscream— screechy, treacherous _Starscream_ in all his deranged glory— had somehow reproduced was absurd. Like, Moonracer had heard he couldn't even be trusted not to stab his own comrades in the back, so who in the actual Pit was screwy enough in the head to let him anywhere their— eww, no! Let's not go there, she thought hastily, shoving that train of thought away.

It didn't matter what she thought in the end. It didn't change the fact she was in possession of Starscream's sparkling and that she was in for a world of trouble. Also, she was _still_ trying to figure out a way to prolong the consequences of her actions.

At last, Moonracer reached an exit hatch and with a relieved sigh, propped the hatch open and slithered out into the musty confines of an unused maintenance closet.

She sneezed harshly at the poof of dust her movements had stirred up and rubbed at her itchy nose with her free hand.

Casting a hesitant look down at the sparkling she held, she cocked her head and warbled out a note of concern.

The sparkling made a muffled sound, their face smooshed against her chest. Chuckling softly, she shifted them onto their back so they could lay comfortably in the crook of her arm as she examined them.

Dim red optics stared up at her, somewhat glassy and unfocused looking. The sparkling's dark helm, its shape reminiscent of Starscream's own helm, was speckled with flecks of dust and she hastily wiped them away, smiling at the little frown that appeared on the sparkling's face. The soft derma of the sparkling's face was the same prominent shade of charcoal grey as their carrier's own face. She could also feel the strange little wing nubs on their back and wondered how long it would take for the nubs to develop into something that actually resembled wings. As she ran a finger down one of the sparkling's arms, she tried to imagine the colors the little one would develop as they grew older. Maybe they would have Starscream's signature tricolors? Or maybe they would be a mash-up of several different colors, considering Moonracer had no idea who the sire could possibly be. For now, the sparkling would remain an unremarkable pale grey, a color that all newly emerged sparklings came in. It wouldn't be until they were several half-cycles old before they developed their plating and some semblance of color.

During her inspection of them, the sparkling had started chewing on one of their own hands and small drops of oral fluid rolled down their little chin.

'' Well who cares who you belong to,'' Moonracer told them with a grin,'' You are so adorable it doesn't matter!''

Moonracer found herself giggling and rearranging the sparkling against her chestplates. She hummed a soothing little tune she remembered from her days at the Youngling Center.

The sparkling blinked sleepily and whined, smushing their tiny face against her chestplates again. Their little mouth open and closed as they mouthed at her plating and Moonracer realized with a sickening jolt, that they were looking for a feeding line. Something that her underdeveloped frame did not possess yet.

She froze and grimaced as the sparkling whimpered loudly when they could not find what they sought.

Oh Primus, now what?

The sparkling would start crying if they didn't get fed sometime soon and someone would hear their cries and investigate—

Moonracer mentally slapped herself. What was she even doing? Sequestering herself away in a broom cupboard with a hungry sparkling? Was she really that desperate to avoid punishment for a few more joors? So desperate that she was knowingly risking the health of this innocent sparkling?! Gods above, she was such a terrible person. If she had just left the sparkling alone, Greenlight would have looked them over by now and they would be fed accordingly. Not to mention, Moonracer could have done the right thing and faced the Commander like a sensible femme and owned up to her mistakes like Flareup had done.

But no, she just had to run away and take the poor innocent sparkling with her.

And now the sparkling was suffering because of her bad decisions.

Fat tears of coolant welled up in the corner of her optics and trickled down her cheeks. She was such an idiot...

Sniffing, she rubbed the tears away and adjusted the sparkling more securely against her chassis.

It was time to do the right thing and own up to her mistakes. At the very least, the sparkling would be given the care they needed and it was for the sparkling's sake alone, that Moonracer found the strength to step outside of the closet and start walking down the hallway.

She was currently in an unused section of the femme's underground base but it wouldn't be long before she was traveling down well-worn hallways and suffering the stares of curious onlookers. It would be a miracle in itself if she made halfway before she got accosted by Lieutenant Chromia. The older femme had a nose for trouble and quite frankly, Moonracer was surprised she hadn't been sussed out yet.

The sparkling started fussing in her arms, their face scrunching up in a familiar way that signaled nothing good.

She hastily tried to calm the sparkling, trilling gently and bouncing them slightly but nothing worked. The sparkling simply became more and more incensed and it became apparent that Moonracer was only exacerbating the situation. She stopped trying to placate the sparkling in favor of picking up the pace and trying to find someone to help her out before the waterworks began. The last thing she needed was to show up with not just a sparkling but a screaming, pink-faced one.

It seemed Primus was looking out for her because as soon as she rounded the next bend, she saw Windrazor just ahead of her.

'' Windrazor!'' she called out, hurrying after the fuchsia pink femme,'' Wait!''

The frontliner halted and turned slightly to peer back at her and Moonracer saw the klik Windrazor fully processed the walking disaster that approached her. It was a process that happened almost instantly and Moonracer was quickly reminded that there was a very good reason Windrazor was a frontliner.

'' What the frag, Moonracer,'' Windrazor growled, cerulean blue optics narrowing to tiny slits.

Moonracer froze and panic bloomed in her spark. Maybe asking a _frontliner_ for help wasn't such a good idea...

'' Uhhh, I-I-I just wanted uhm—'' Moonracer fumbled with her words, acutely aware of the dangerous look on Windrazor's face and of the extremely vulnerable sparkling in her arms that was growing louder and more upset by the klik.

'' Nevermind!'' she practically shrieked and she spun on her heel and ran away as fast as she dared to with a sparkling in her arms.

She didn't hear Windrazor call out or run after her which was a relief but now she was stuck traveling towards a much more heavily used passageway. 

As she adjusted the sparkling for the tenth time, she nearly walked straight into Flareup and the two of them yelped when they laid optics on one another.

Flareup's mouth fell open and her optics widened with disbelief as she regarded the sparkling with something akin to naked horror on her face. Moonracer, likewise, was making her own horrified expression, only her expression was tinged with humiliation due to being caught red-handed.

The sparkling, predictably, had had enough and chose this exact moment to start wailing. Tears sprung up and tiny fists waved about furiously as they tested out the full range of their vocalizer for the first time. Moonracer winced at the sheer volume and recovered enough in order to try quieting the sparkling but to no avail. She cringed as the sparkling's wails bounced off the walls and echoed around them. She looked over at Flareup like a neo-deer in headlights.

Flareup somehow looked even more horrified and no closer to snapping out of her trance any time soon so Moonracer did her a favor and yelled,'' Flareup, help me out here would you?!''

That seemed to do the trick and Flareup blinked once before she closed her mouth and took a wobbly step back.

'' Oh my god,'' she heard the black and red femme say over the sobbing wails of the sparkling,'' What the absolute _frag_ are you doing with a sparkling, Moon!''

Moonracer realized Flareup hadn't been part of the Commander and Greenlight's conversation earlier and pondered the merits of trying to explain things to her friend over the wails of the sparkling.

Yeah, no. Maybe later.

'' Uh, I would love to explain but if I don't get this little guy some energon and quick, the whole base'll wake up and while I know I'm in big trouble already, the last thing this poor baby needs is to be poked and stared at by even more strangers. They're just hungry, you know? If they get an energon bottle then they'll stop crying... at least I'm pretty sure they will. It's what the caretakers did back at the center which is what I'm going off of,'' Moonracer managed to explain coherently over the wailing.

Flareup's optics finally strayed from the sparkling and up to Moonracer's face. The repulsion in her friend's optics made Moonracer's vents stall and she took a step back, clutching the sparkling tighter to her chest.

'' Uhh, Flareup?'' she whispered frantically, confused and _afraid_ of what she saw in her friend's optics.

The desperate note in her voice seemed to snap Flareup out of whatever frightening reverie she had been in and her friend jumped, optics resetting as she squinted worriedly at Moonracer.

'' Uhhm, right... so you said something about energon?'' she said, with a slight tilt to her helm.

Moonracer sighed in relief at the transformation back into the femme she knew and loved. '' Yeah yeah, if we get them an energon bottle, they'll quiet down with something to suck on.''

Flareup nodded, looking a little dazed as she led the way to the mess room.

In a last-ditch effort to appease the sparkling, Moonracer gently stuck her finger in their mouth hoping to occupy the sparkling with something to suck on until they got some energon. It worked— _thank Primus_ — and the sparkling's wails quickly quieted in favor of eagerly mouthing and sucking on her finger. 

Flareup glanced over her shoulder when she noticed the sparkling's cries had abated suddenly and only raised an optic ridge at the sight of Moonracer's finger in the sparkling's mouth.

When they arrived at the entry to the mess room, Flareup poked her head in and then looked cautiously back at Moonracer and her charge.

'' Yeah, you wait out here,'' she said, eyeing the sparkling with some akin to contempt which made Moonracer's plating prickle uncomfortably,'' There's a couple of people in mess but I don't think we should risk causing a scene. I'll go in and get some energon. You think of some way around the bottle thing because I highly doubt we got any spare baby bottles laying around.''

With a start, Moonracer realized her friend was right and she had to shift the sparkling as they began to fuss again. She had literally no idea what on Cybertron she could use as a substitute bottle. When Flareup returned with a glowing pink cube in hand, Moonracer was no closer to figuring out the bottle problem and just shrugged sheepishly when Flareup gestured questioningly to the sparkling and then the cube.

They decided to pick an empty meeting room to fuel the sparkling in, one that likely hadn't been used since the majority of the Autobot forces had been stationed on Cybertron. It was covered in a thick blanket of dust and most of the chairs were overturned and the central monitor rusted over. Flareup had to hand the cube over to Moonracer and go in first to clear up some of the dust before they could come in. Moonracer had explained that the sparkling's vent filters weren't strong enough to combat that much dust much to Flareup's annoyance. Still, despite her friend's sour mood, Moonracer appreciated Flareup's help. It was so much easier having someone to help her for once.

When Flareup gave the all-clear, she wandered inside and gently settled herself on one of the upright and newly dusted chairs. She began maneuvering the sparkling onto their back in the crook of her arm, mindful of their little wing nubs. She propped them up a little and balanced the cube on her thigh as her rocessor raced to come up with a method of feeding the sparkling that didn't involve a bottle. She also wasn't sure if regular midgrade energon was healthy for a sparkling to ingest— a newly emerged sparkling at that. The stuff everyone collected from the dispenser wasn't even that great tasting to begin with and she fervently prayed that the sparkling wouldn't turn their nose up at it. Some of the sparklings at the Youngling Center had been picky eaters she remembered and she hoped for this sparkling's sake that that wasn't a trait they harbored.

With a deep breath, she dipped her forefinger into the cube and then quickly brought it up to the sparkling's mouth, bumping the soft derma of the sparkling's lips to encourage them to latch on like before.

The sparkling whined and scrunched up their face but they opened their mouth all the same and hungrily sucked off the energon from her finger. She withdrew her finger and began the process anew, wetting her finger with energon and then letting the sparkling suck it off. It was a tedious process but Moonracer knew it was a necessary one. The sparkling deserved better than this, she knew and the guilt that she had been ignoring came back in full force, practically crushing her with its intensity.

Moonracer slowly became aware of the fact that she was crying when she saw drops of coolant land on the sparkling's dark helm. The sparkling stared up at her, not understanding the turmoil she felt inside and Moonracer cried even harder as she gazed down at their innocent little face.

If this had been a perfect world, the sparkling would be in the arms of its carrier who would feed them properly with a feeding line directly from their own tank. They would be clean and free of speckles of dust and smears of grime and scant traces of energon here and there. They would be safe and loved in the embrace of their carrier, not with someone as inept and blundering as Moonracer. Moonracer who couldn't even sort out her own problems appropriately and got into more trouble daily than anyone else did.

Primus, she deserved whatever punishment the Commander thought up. She deserved to be locked up.

Yet, here she was, inadequately fueling a newly emerged sparkling on her own. Nevermind Flareup was sitting across from her, watching her like a cyber-hawk. Moonracer felt very alone in this moment and was so very afraid that what she was doing wasn't enough.

'' Why're you crying?'' Flareup asked after Moonracer sniffled wetly for the twentieth time.

Moonracer swallowed the sob that had been building and looked up at her friend. '' I-I'm an-an idiot, that's w-why.''

'' Well... yeah, you've made some pretty dumb mistakes lately,'' Flareup admitted hesitantly, averting her optics,'' I mean, we both have. _Both_ of us have made a lot of slag decisions lately. Which means we're both idiots, I guess.'' Flareup trailed off with a little self-deprecating laugh that made Moonracer cringe.

And she wasn't done talking either. '' We are in so much trouble I can't even begin to imagine how mad the Commander must be at us. I mean, who wouldn't be fragged off? I know I would be if I were in her position. Two of my subordinates hide a ridiculously high ranking enemy officer in the brig, willfully keep their presence a secret until directly confronted and then one of them turns up with a sparkling that resembles said enemy officer. I mean, can it get any worse?''

Moonracer glanced down at the serene expression on the sparkling's face as they sucked energon off her finger.

'' It could be worse,'' she whispered more to herself than Flareup but the other femme heard her nonetheless.

Jumping up from her seat, Flareup began relentlessly pacing the length of the room. '' What the Pit, Moonracer! How could it get any fragging worse than this!? We are so going get court-martialled and thrown into a cell beside Starscream! It's what I would do if I were Elita One!''

Moonracer watched her friend pace and vent. A strange sort of calmness had washed over her and she shook her head.

'' It could be a lot worse than this...'' she spoke in a quiet tone,'' For example, the sparkling could be sick or injured. Or Starscream could have escaped due to our negligence, injured somebody during his escape and stollen intel— _and_ let Shockwave know where our base is just so he could send in an airstrike and blow us all sky-high. So yeah, it could be a lot worse than this, Flareup.''

Flareup whirled on her. A foreign and alarmingly deranged light had appeared in her optics as they fixated on Moonracer. '' Yeah, I bet you'd know _all_ about it, wouldn't you? After all, _you are the reason_ we're in this situation in the first place. Makes sense that you'd know just how to make things even worse! Maybe you're secretly an outlier and your special ability is finding increasingly stupid ways to frag up because you're so Primus-damned good at it that I'm starting to think that you could make a fragging career out of it!''

Moonracer gaped her.

Flareup glared back at her for a few kliks before her own words registered to herself. She stared at Moonracer with a wide opticed expression that Moonracer didn't recognize.

Without another word, Flareup left the room, shoulders hunched with a haunted look about her.

As the door shut behind her, Moonracer stared at the empty space her friend had occupied moments ago.

Blinking, she looked down at the sparkling and with a trembling hand, continued to feed them as if nothing had happened. As if she hadn't just been screamed at by one of the few friends she had. As if her flaws hadn't just been thrown in her face with all the force of a hurricane. As if she hadn't already known everything Flareup had said.

'' I'm so sorry, little one,'' she croaked, voice hoarse as fresh tears rolled down her face,'' I'm sorry you were brought into a world like this. I'm sorry for being a stupid idiot and taking you away. I'm sorry for all the things you're going to have to endure in the future.''

Moonracer looked up towards the door Flareup had just rushed through, coolant blurring her vision.

'' Because Primus only knows what's in store for us.''


	5. Apathy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your support! :D

Greenlight could feel Lancer prodding at her through their bond.

Her conjunx had been worried about her ever since she had felt Greenlight's earlier distress at having to treat Starscream and after that, the subsequent shift to grim apprehension as Greenlight had searched for the missing sparkling. Greenlight hadn't responded to her prodding which she knew only made her conjunx more worried but unlike some endurae, Greenlight knew Lancer trusted her to handle whatever was bothering her. It was a trust that had been strengthened over the course of the war and at this moment, Greenlight was beyond thankful for Lancer's discretion.

However, if Greenlight wanted to be completely honest with herself, she was far more worried about Elita One than Lancer.

The pink femme hadn't stopped pacing upon receiving a comm from Flareup a few breems ago and if Greenlight didn't know any better, she would say the Commander's expression was downright scheming.

Greenlight shook her head. Whatever was going through her superior's head right now was none of Greenlight's business.

Optics drifting over to the prone seeker who had been left on the bloodied floor of the cell, Greenlight ran some figures and calculations in her processor. Starscream had just gone through emergence and judging by the drying energon on his thighs, his emergence protocols would have started somewhere around 7 to 8 joors ago. He must have dilated fully somewhere around 5 joors ago and judging by the amount of energon on the floor, he also must have suffered postpartum hemorrhaging— she had certainly noticed the awful tearing in his valve lining that was going to leave him waddling and cringing when he sat for orns. Greenlight herself cringed at the horrible picture her thoughts had painted. She couldn't imagine the pain the seeker must have experienced while trying to push out a sparkling without any help whilst trapped in a cell. By all rights, Starscream should have bled out and died. Yet, by some act of Primus— or Unicron, depending on who you asked— Starscream was still among the world of the living. With a mental shrug, Greenlight supposed it wasn't all that surprising given his track history of major injuries and near-death experiences throughout the war. The seeker was perhaps not invincible but he certainly was harder to kill than ordinary mecha.

Two pairs of pedefalls alerted her to Flareup and Moonracer's approach and she stood to greet them, reflexively wiping her hands off on her thighs. She couldn't wait to get this over with. The energon gumming up the seams of her fingers and arms was starting to itch.

However, when her optics caught sight of the sparkling in Moonracer's arms, her spark dropped and she couldn't prevent the loud gasp that escaped her.

Oh no.

Oh _no_.

This was going to take so much longer.

'' Moonracer. Flareup,'' Elita One greeted stonily.

Wordlessly, Greenlight moved to take the sparkling from Moonracer, holding her arms out expectantly but to her surprise, Moonracer took a step back and clutched the sparkling tighter to her chassis.

Greenlight almost frowned at her but then she noticed the turquoise femme's gaze wasn't on her but the looming figure behind her. Greenlight resisted the urge to turn and see what terrible and murderous expression Elita One was wearing now. Instead, she stepped forward and quickly grabbed the sparkling from Moonracer, ignoring the aborted noise of objection from the younger femme.

Ignoring Elita One completely, Greenlight took a seat on one of the benches along the wall and laid the sparkling down on its back across her thighs. She wished she had a blanket or mesh cloth and wondered if she could get away with ordering Flareup to retrieve one. However, one look at the red and black femme had her scowling outright. She had never seen the normally perky and grinning femme so dour-faced before.

A tiny warble from the sparkling had her redirecting her attention from Flareup and back to the— hmm, _seekerlet_ — judging by the wing nubs and tiny thrusters. As she took out a scanner from her subspace and ran it over the sparkling's frame, she found no noticeable flaws or complications in the frame structure or spark signature. She also noticed the sparkling's energon levels were topped off and reckoned either Flareup or Moonracer had fed them. However, according to her scanner, the energon in the sparkling's tanks was regular midgrade and Greenlight grimaced at the scanner's readout. Things were certainly going to be very messy later.

Subspacing her scanner, she performed a hands-on examination and checked the sparkling's audials, nose, optics, mouth— _fangs_ , how fashionably Decepticon— and prompted the little one to open their chestplates so she could examine their spark. She could barely stifle her gasp as a gentle green light spilled forth from the tiny grey chest.

A _Point One Percenter._

'' Aren't you a special one?'' she murmured to the sparkling who merely blinked up at her and squirmed in her lap,'' And oddly quiet too.''

After coaxing the sparkling's chestplates closed once more, she unsubspaced her scanner again and directed it to scan the sparkling's vocalizer just to make sure nothing was amiss. Nothing was, thank Primus. Yet, considering all the noise sparklings were famous for making, this one was unnaturally quiet. Which she thought was particularly unusual given the turbulent personality of their carrier.

'' Heh, here I am complaining about you not making any noise when I should thanking my lucky stars that you didn't inherit your carrier's vocals, am I right?'' she teased the sparkling, tickling their chin and eliciting a surprised squeal from them.

'' Alright, there's the noise,'' she laughed quietly and was just about to turn the sparkling over to examine their wings when a shadow fell over her.

Looking up, she quailed at the sight of the Commander's cold blue optics.

'' Uh, hello Commander. I guess you want my report on the sparkling,'' she whispered just loudly enough for Elita One to hear.

Elita One nodded and Greenlight drew in a shaky vent and began her report. '' The sparkling is definitely the one we were looking for. As you can see, they are a seekerlet, and the helm and facial composition match Starscream's own. I don't think we need to do a coding sample as it's pretty obvious who the sparkling belongs to. They are a few joors old at most and healthy too. So far I haven't found any problems but in order to really know, I would have to bring this little one up to the medbay and use the OCR scanner to get a more in-depth read on them. However, I did discover that the sparkling is a Point One Percenter which, as you know, is extremely rare. The powerful wavelength of their spark most likely increased the sparkling's chances of surviving an unassisted emergence, not to mention whatever happened to Starscream during the battle he was captured in. Needless to say, it's a miracle that both Starscream and this one are still alive.'' She gestured to the sparkling which trilled inquisitively and reached for her hand to play with her digits. '' They were fed recently but it was regular midgrade which is either going to come up eventually or the charge will dissipate through the sparkling's systems and give them an intense tummy ache. They'll probably be inconsolable during that time so I would like to get the sparkling cleaned off and maybe try to get them some formula or something heavily filtered in order to lessen the midgrade's charge. It would make their impending tummy ache more bearable at the very least.''

Elita One nodded slowly, showing that she was following Greenlight's words but her expression clearly said she was thinking of something else.

'' Well, uh, that is the end of my report. If you don't need me anymore, I need to go get a gurney for Starscream and get him and the sparkling to the—'' her voice tapered off as her Commander's optics refocused on her with startling intensity.

'' Commander?''

'' That will not be necessary, Greenlight. While I trust your medical opinion, the sparkling does not require anything further from you,'' Elita one told her and to Greenlight's shock continued on to say,'' As for Starscream, set up something for him here— in his cell. I will not have him enjoying the same facilities as our own troops. Starscream is, first and foremost, a prisoner of war. He is not a guest and is not going to be treated as one regardless of his new maternal status.''

Greenlight gaped at her Commander.

'' Bu-but the sparkling—''

'' Will _not_ leave the brig,'' the energon pink femme snapped at her and Greenlight flinched,'' No one, including Lieutenant Chromia, or any of the other officers are to learn of Starscream's presence here or the existence of his... _offspring_. I will speak to Lancer at a separate time since she is your conjunx and I understand it would be unfair to ask you to hide such things from her. Everyone else, however, cannot know. Karmen probably already knows about the sparkling's existence thanks to Moonracer's jaunt down the halls with it so I will have to speak to her as well but for now, I trust she will keep her mouth shut. The brig will go on lockdown and I am placing Flareup in charge of brig security. She is to make sure nothing gets in or out. You may retrieve the equipment you need from the medbay but under no circumstances are you to provide the same comforts and utilities used by Autobot soldiers to a Decepticon prisoner. Remember, this mech is responsible for the holocaust of an entire city and the deaths of millions. He is also guilty of numerous war crimes and other serious criminal offenses. '' The Commander paused, her expression turning speculative as she clasped her hands behind her back. '' This may be the opening the Autobots have been waiting for. Not only is Starscream a high-ranking Decepticon officer but he possesses invaluable information and we _must_ take advantage of that. The outcome of the war could very well depend on our ability to handle the situation appropriately. As it is, the Decepticons have had the upper hand for far too long and I aim to see them lose that upper hand. My troop's goals should echo my own. Otherwise, it is treason and I trust you are aware of the penalty for treason, Greenlight.''

Glancing down at the sparkling who was slowly falling into recharge in her lap, Greenlight nodded slowly in reply. Elita One accepted her answer calmly and turned away, muttering something under her breath as she did so.

Greenlight watched her superior walk over to the two despondent youngsters across the hall and start talking to them in a low voice, gesturing back and forth between Starscream's cell and where Greenlight sat with a sleepy sparkling in her lap. The Quartermaster certainly pitied the two young femmes as they received the brunt of their Commander's anger as well as a harsh lecture. And judging by the slump of their shoulders and the hanging of their heads, Greenlight was correct in her assessment. On the other hand, she understood the Commander's anger. It was reckless and irresponsible of the two to have hid Starscream's presence. Their actions had jeopardized the lives of every Autobot on base as well as the sparkling's own life. Greenlight hadn't the faintest clue what Moonracer had been doing with the sparkling or what Flareup had been thinking when she had listened to Moonracer's harebrained scheme to hide the Decepticon _Second in Command_ in the brig. What did they think they were going to accomplish with such foolish actions? Flareup, at least, should have known better.

In response to the severity of her thoughts, Lancer began prodding Greenlight over the bond again.

This time Greenlight sent a quick pulse of reassurance back, hoping to placate her concerned conjunx. Either it worked or Lancer was too busy to pay much attention to her anyway because the prodding quickly faded and Lancer retreated to her end of the bond. Sending her gratitude Lancer's way as well as a pulse of warning, Greenlight put up a barrier between her and Lancer. Her conjunx's warm presence dissolved to a tiny pinprick and cold emptiness took her place. Greenlight honestly hated putting barriers up like this but as of right now, it had become necessary. She would need all of her focus in order to get through the next few joors.

* * *

It was inevitable— the Commander's Wrath.

Yet, when it happened and the floodgates opened, Moonracer never could have predicted this.

'' Well done Flareup, Moonracer.''

The young femmes stared up at their superior with wide optics and open shock on their faceplates.

_What?_

'' You have managed to capture the second most wanted Decepticon without damaging yourselves or him for that matter. Not only that, you have successfully managed to keep his presence a secret from the rest of the base which allows us a greater degree of maneuverability before the Decepticon Empire realizes what has happened. '' The energon pink femme paused and despite her generous words, her gaze was glacial as it swept over them. '' A single card cannot stand on its own but it _can_ cause the downfall of the rest of the tower— and the two of you have provided us with that chance. What we can do is interrogate him for information and then swiftly pass that information on to those that can make use of it. Unfortunately, however... Starscream himself is not very valuable to _us_. He is most useful to us, our regiment, as a bargaining chip for supplies and energon. That means his release is inevitable and he will simply go back to doing what he does best— being a general pain in our afts.''

There was something about the Commander's sly tone that Moonracer did not like. She could not help trembling in trepidation at the suggestion in the older femme's words.

'' Isn't it better that way?'' Flareup spoke up bravely despite the tremor in her voice,'' I mean, we can't keep him here indefinitely, can we? There is that sparkling to consider...'' she trailed off with a glance in Greenlight's direction.

The Commander did not appear concerned with Flareup's worries. '' The matter of the sparkling is separate from this one. Our objective is to utilize Starscream's capture to the best of our abilities.''

Moonracer frowned lightly and she couldn't help but ask, '' What do you mean by that, sir?''

The Commander pinned her with a withering look. '' I am not required nor inclined to explain myself to you. In fact, you should consider yourself fortunate you are receiving only a warning on your records for daring to take matters into your own hands and keep Starscream's presence from me. By all rights, both of you should face corporeal punishment but I have elected to be merciful instead.''

Flareup gasped quietly and Moonracer's optics widened at the surprising news.

'' That said, the following assignments I have for you are of a sensitive nature. You will pay me your complete attention and stay silent until I am finished,'' the Commander informed them severely and then waited for their nods of assent before continuing,'' The rest of the regiment aside from myself, Greenlight and Lancer are not to know of the brig's occupants. Starscream and his offspring must remain a secret! If it gets out where he is and the condition he is in, the 'Cons will inevitably know as well. They will know we mean to utilize whatever information he possesses and as soon as they become aware of his capture, this information will be rendered out of date and obsolete. The Decepticons are no fools. They will take steps to ensure there is no advantage to be gained by the information. They will make sure the only thing left for us to do is bargain Starscream off in which they'll anticipate his return to their ranks. It is not a favorable outcome for us so we must choose the third option.''

Third option? Moonracer honestly had no idea there even was a _third_ option. From the identical confusion on Flareup's face, her friend was most likely thinking the same. However, before she could blurt out a question, Moonracer remembered her Commander's demand for silence and mercifully kept herself from ruining her second chance.

'' I had said Starscream himself was not all that valuable to us, correct?''

Moonracer and Flareup nodded in unison.

'' It was a lie.''

Neither of them knew how to react to that statement with anything other than total confusion. Impatiently, Moonracer waited for the Commander to continue, her processor racing to figure out the Commander's game here.

'' That Starscream is only good for information and acting as a bargaining chip is an assumption that the Decepticons will make. Even other Autobots will assume as much. Long have we ransomed high profile Decepticon officers instead of incarcerating them or executing them. Instead of neutralizing a threat, we give it freedom to terrorize us once more because we claim to be the righteous antithesis of the Decepticons. We bind ourselves by the Autobot Code and pretend we are better than them. In reality, we are only just barely their betters. On distant planets and forgotten battlefields, we have broken the Code ten times over and spat in the face of honorable conduct in the name of victory. The very existence of MTO soldiers, the Wreckers, and the Special Operations division are direct compromises of the Code. Additionally, we have taken advantage of other species and reaped their planets and appropriated their natural resources all to further the Autobot cause. The only thing that makes us different in these cases is that _we_ _have a Code_.''

'' When you eliminate the restrictions of the Autobot Code, Starscream's capture becomes far more favorable to us.''

Moonracer did not like where this was going.

'' Starscream's profile states he was a decorated scientist before the war and we have sources claiming that he occasionally serves as a weapons engineer when it suits him. Due to his educational background, he is familiar with many different areas of science and is an adept technician. Using special persuasive techniques, I doubt it would be hard to force him to utilize those skills for our benefit. In fact, considering the state of this base and our current status as guerilla fighters we could use someone like him around here. Things such as the generators and ramp-way could be restored. Equipment, long-range communications and satellite arrays could be repaired for our use. We have come to rely on the smallest scraps of blind luck in order to survive and fight back against Shockwave. Think of what we could do with a fully operational base! '' The Commander chuckled mirthlessly. ''Although I am quite aware that Starscream cannot fix everything around here, we can damn well make him try.''

It didn't sound like such a bad idea if Moonracer was honest with herself. It was certainly not what she had thought the Commander was about to say. In fact, fixing things around the base sounded like a great idea. It would be nice to have proper lighting and heating around the base again. Just last cycle, their third generator had blown and now half the base was dim and some parts of it pitch black. The training hall, one of the most commonly used areas, was especially difficult to navigate thanks to the long-standing blackout. The only rooms that still had decent lighting were the control deck, adjacent hallways, the mess room and the armory. Everywhere else was lit with oil lamps and battery rechargeable lights and sadly enough, they had too few of those to light the entire base. Therefore, if you had business in the unlit part of the base, you used your headlights or a handheld light.

And don't even get her started on the icy cold solvent that gushed out of the washracks...

Now that she thought about it, forcing Starscream to put his skills to use around the base seemed like the best option out of all of them.

Flareup raised her hand tentatively.

The Commander rolled her optics and folded her arms. '' Yes, Flareup? What is it?''

'' Uhh, that sounds like a great idea, Commander! I mean, I totally never would've come up with such an idea but I do have this one teensy tinesy question...'' the red and black femme said, as she looked up and met their superior's gaze,'' You said you had an assignment for us? Also— and not to uh- be rude or anything but you talked about making Starscream work around the base and how's that gonna work if his presence is to remain a secret? ''

The Commander considered Flareup's words but did not answer her. It took Moonracer a klik or two to figure out that their superior was on a comm call.

After realizing this, the two younger femmes were left with no choice but to wait quietly for their Commander to acknowledge them again.

Moonracer's attention drifted over Greenlight.

The Quartermaster had magnetized the sparkling to her chest like Moonracer had seen many carriers do with their sparklings before the war and she was busy cleaning up the bloody mess inside Starscream's cell. She had the help of a small cleaning drone but seemed to be making little progress overall. The seeker's energon was in every crevice and crack and a vast amount of it had already dried and stained the rusty floors turning the flaky metallic particles a deep magenta.

'' Moonracer.''

The turquoise femme snapped back to attention, her optics flitting to the Commander's disapproving face.

'' Did you hear a word I said? Or were you too busy ogling the seeker spawn?''

Moonracer winced at the Commander's language but she admitted to her inattention all the same.

The Commander sighed with exasperation. '' Listen up, I will not repeat myself again.'' Moonracer hastily nodded. '' You and Flareup have separate assignments. You will be in charge of the sparkling. From what Flareup has told me of your earlier actions, you seem to know what you're doing when it comes to small mechanisms. In which case you make for an ideal candidate for sparkling-sitter. You will keep it fed and contained in the brig and under no circumstances is it to leave the brig, am I understood?''

Moonracer gulped and her optics bounced around the hall from the rust peeling off the ceiling to the various dents littering the walls. This was such a grim place to keep a sparkling, she thought dismally... not to mention it was filthy and half the place had rusted over from little to no upkeep.

'' I do not want to hear the sparkling's wails from beyond the brig nor do I want to see any evidence of its existence beyond the brig. Anything you need will be provided to you by Quartermaster Greenlight and if she does not have what you need, then do the best you can.''

Rather horrified by the blatant apathy her superior exhibited towards the wellbeing of the sparkling, all Moonracer could do was nod and stare at the rusty floor panels. She clenched her hands into fists trying to control the tremble that had spread throughout her frame. She wanted to protest the orders given to her but knew it was oh so futile an endeavor. Elita One was absolute and so was her command. If she willed it, it would be done. There was no other choice to be made.

Still...

Moonracer felt sick to her spark.

'' What is Flareup's assignment, sir?'' she asked helplessly, glancing up at her friend who was watching her with an oddly perturbed look on her faceplate.

'' Flareup will be in charge of the brig's security until I decide otherwise. She has my permission to deter and detain anyone who attempts to approach and otherwise enter the brig. Additionally, she will help Greenlight fetch the equipment she needs to monitor Starscream and his offspring's conditions,'' the Commander explained flatly, a deep-set scowl hardening her faceplate,'' You are not to interfere with her assignment or _else_.''

Moonracer gulped but nodded anyway despite the ominous warning she had just received.

'' Your new duties will, of course, replace your regular shifts. I will notify the Lieutenant of these changes. As I stated earlier, no one is to know of Starscream and his offspring's presence. That includes the Lieutenant. No matter what, Lieutenant Chromia is not to be told. She has enough to deal with and does not need this plaguing her steps. Do you both understand?''

The two femmes nodded in unison once more.

'' Excellent. Then your duties begin now.''

Without another word, the Commander turned and left. They watched solemnly as she exited the brig, her pedesteps soundless despite the typical creakiness and wear of the floor. How the Commander managed to tread so quietly was beyond Moonracer.

For a few kliks neither her nor Flareup said a word. They simply vented in and out, counting their lucky stars to be left alive and standing after facing someone like Elita One.

The Commander was known for her sub-zero personality and even those that knew her well had trouble reading her emotions and determining how she truly felt. Moonracer had a sneaking suspicion that instead of a real spark there lurked a chunk of ice in the Commander's chest. It would certainly explain how callous she was towards the innocent little sparkling. Seeker spawn or not they were just a baby and did not deserve her fury. Moonracer had heard from someone the phrase,'' We are not born with doctrine written upon our sparks. Instead, we absorb it onto our sparks from our surroundings.'' She did not know who the original creator of the phrase was but she felt that whoever they were, they were right. Nothing good would come from treating someone like dirt who had not earned such treatment. It left a bad taste in her mouth.

Still, there was nothing to be done about it.

Moonracer would try her damned best to care for the sparkling despite everything.

And she could only hope that when Starscream awoke, that he would see her efforts in a positive light and not be terribly angry at her for the deplorable conditions his sparkling was being cared for in. She had no doubt that he would be kept from his sparkling and though she knew it wasn't right to separate a carrier from their sparkling, there was hardly anything she could do about it.

Was there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if you find any errors, it's 6 am and I haven't been to bed. I'm bound to have missed something.


	6. Tenderness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Stares at the amount of hits/reads* Oh my gods, we've passed 1,000...
> 
> Thank you all so much! Thank you for your bookmarks, kudos and comments especially! You guys are amazing :D

Salvaging supplies for the sparkling was easier than Moonracer had anticipated.

Relying on Greenlight to take care of the sparkling for now, Moonracer had gone on a hunt for all manner of things. From blanket mesh and pillows to cleaning products and two space heaters, to spare frame-care products and a small tub... Moonracer scoured every nook and cranny of the base for anything she could use. Surprisingly there were quite a lot of unused and unclaimed commodities lying about, some being forgotten items from the past occupants of the base while others were unwanted leftovers from raids on Shockwave's fortress. From a dark and mildew-covered storage room, she found enough scrap to build a rudimentary cradle and from Rosanna and Windy's berthroom, she received a basket of spare soaps, washcloths and other useful bathing utensils. Thankfully Windy had not been present to question her during her visit to their berthroom and Rosanna had been observant enough to realize that Moonracer was in a hurry and had mercifully kept her usual chatter to a minimum. Moonracer had quickly thanked her and moved on to Greenlight and Lancer's room where Lancer was waiting for her.

Apparently, the Commander had just briefed Lancer on the situation at hand and the Weapons Specialist had commed Moonracer to tell her she was willing to donate some items to the sparkling.

Eagerly, Moonracer headed over to their room.

'' Moonracer,'' Lancer greeted as she came into view and Moonracer nodded to her respectfully.

'' Thank you for donating!'' she chirped back as she watched the older femme type in the door's passcode,'' It's really weird, but I've actually had a lot of luck finding stuff just laying around the base. Although it's far from what we had at the Youngling Center, it will have to do!''

Lancer made a noise of agreement as she gestured for Moonracer to follow her.

Making her way into the room, Moonracer was mindful to keep to herself and not gape at the knee-deep clutter covering the floor. Narrow winding paths marked the routes most commonly traveled while towering shelves and stacks made it virtually impossible to get anywhere else (unless you wanted to cause an avalanche). She honestly didn't know how the Pit this place passed the Lieutenant's room inspections.

Despite the curious bits and bobbles all around her, Moonracer's attention was ultimately captured by the unbelievable amount of image captures dotting the walls. Most were of mecha and places she had never seen before and some were obviously taken before the war when the skies were blue and cities still stood. She recognized the beautiful Towers of Cyrstal City and gasped at an image of a monstrous gladiatorial colosseum. Strangely though, most of the images did not feature Greenlight or Lancer. Instead, many were of mecha that wore bright smiles and no battle armor. In the later pictures— those taken during the war judging by the number of trenches, smokey atmospheres and dreary backdrops they featured— Lancer and Greenlight started appearing. Yet... Moonracer had difficulty putting names to faces and faces to names when she studied the mecha they were with. She recognized Rosanna and Thunderblast in a few. Rosanna was usually in the center making some sort of silly hand gesture at the image taker while Thunderblast seemed to be constantly half-turned away from the image taker as if she were trying to get away. Thunderblast's exasperated facial expressions in each image made her grin. She could understand the tank-former's reluctance; she didn't like getting her picture taken either.

'' Why do you guys have so many image captures?'' she couldn't help but ask as politely as possible. '' I don't even see you or Greenlight in most of them.''

She turned to face Lancer and her smile wilted a little at the sight of the older femme.

Lancer's visor was dim as she gazed at a particular image and she stood perfectly still as if she had been turned to stone. Mindful of the clutter, Moonracer tip-toed over to her and her optics traveled from Lancer to the image that held her attention.

Battered and singed at the edges, the image had been taken in a trench at night. Scrap metal lined the edges to provide extra cover and the trench bottom was sodden with thick mud. The mecha in the image were likewise covered from head to pede in dark streaks of mud and splatters of dried energon. The filth was so thick it obscured their Autobot badges and made it difficult to tell their frame-types. However, she could make out that there were two femmes and a mech, each facing the image taker with somber smiles and weary faces. They were huddled together, features lit up by some sort of glaring red flare from far above. Their optics were dim and one of the femmes was missing an arm, her shoulder stump sporting a fresh weld mark. Moonracer recognized none of them and wondered if any of them were still alive.

'' My old squadmates,'' Lancer said eventually after a lengthy silence,'' Before I met Greenlight.''

Moonracer nodded, trying to sound cheerful as she replied,'' They look like nice mecha.''

'' They were.''

Moonracer winced internally. '' Oh... I'm sorry.''

Lancer shrugged as if it didn't matter when her face clearly said it did. '' The image capture was taken during the Simanzi Massacre. My squad and I were stuck in that trench for vorns— our entire battalion called those trenches home. It was the longest I'd ever stayed in one place.''

An icy tendril of fear skittered across Moonracer's spark. She had heard of Simanzi— everyone knew of it. It had ended just before she had been born. Her sire, she had been told, had fought and perished in Simanzi.

'' My sire fought there,'' she told Lancer softly,'' He was... stationed at a place called Rotary Point. I was told his battalion was ambushed one night without warning and eventually overrun. My sire, his designation was Courser, he and his squadron held their position for several joors while waiting for reinforcements. By the time reinforcements arrived, the Decepticons had already taken the point and they had to retreat. Out of one hundred and forty-six mecha stationed at Rotary Point, fifteen were rescued and only nine actually survived. My sire was one of the ones rescued but he deactivated before they could get him to a medic. I was told he'd fought bravely and despite his wounds, he went back and forth carrying injured soldiers to evac. Because he'd done that, he'd aggravated his wounds so badly there was no way they could get him to a medic in time...''

Moonracer trailed off, her optics traveling over the many image captures.

'' All these mecha are dead, aren't they.''

Lancer nodded stiffly.

'' There are a handful left. Most of my current squad is still alive, thank Primus. Rosanna, Thunderblast and Riptide are here on base. Shadow Strike and Meridian are somewhere off-planet,'' the orange femme said as she finally turned away and started digging through the mess at her knees,'' I have it on good authority, Shadow Strike got himself conjunxed and had a sparkling or two. I don't know if he left the army before or after getting sparked but apparently he lives in some neutral colony now with his family. No one was sent after him cause no one blamed him for deserting. Can't fight a war and take care of sparklings at the same time. Greenlight and I had purchased some gifts to send to him but we never found the chance to. They're somewhere around here in this mess.''

Moonracer gasped and quickly set her stuff down on the edge of the berth. '' Oh no, Lancer you shouldn't give away something special like that! I can make do with—''

Lancer waved her concerns away with a flap of her hand. '' It doesn't matter. His kids are probably all grown up anyway so they aren't gonna miss out on anything.''

'' Oh... okay.'' Moonracer felt a little silly for her earlier protest when she realized what Lancer was talking about and scuffed her foot against the floor. She let out a nervous giggle and clasped her hands together. '' Um, should I help search or um... I mean, I don't wanna mess anything up of yours but uh, you look like you could use some help.''

With a half-amused half-exasperated sigh, Lancer straightened and placed her hands on her hips as she surveyed the room. '' I hardly think you're going to cause more of a mess.'' The older femme shook her head with disapproval clear on her face. '' This is pretty much all Greenlight's fault. As Quartermaster, she's responsible for the belongings of the deceased, and more often than not, she gets sentimental over their stuff and just keeps it. Hence all the image captures.''

Moonracer felt a shudder go down her spinal strut as she realized she was surrounded by the personal belongings of dead mecha.

Well... that certainly explained why Lancer and Greenlight weren't in most of the images.

'' You... don't find it a little creepy?'' she asked tentatively,'' That your room is full of dead people's stuff?''

Lancer shot her a look that clearly said _'don't ask'_ and Moonracer squeaked out an apology under her breath.

Their conversation dissolved into an awkward silence that stuck until Moonracer left. It had taken an embarrassing amount of time but Lancer had eventually found what she had been searching for and Moonracer escaped as quickly as she could while still retaining an air of courtesy and gratitude. And she really was grateful.

Lancer had donated two fluffy mesh blankets and a soft sparkling sized towel. She'd also given her an adorable white and chartreuse green turbo-fox plushie that was made out of a silky soft organic material. Thankfully, all of the donated items were in mint condition as if they had never seen the wear and tear a four million vorn war could dish out.

As Lancer made her way down to the brig, taking care not to be seen by anyone, she began going over sparkling designations in her head. If Starscream let her, she'd suggest some or write him a list. She loved coming up with sparkling designations and it had often been one of her favorite pastimes when she still lived at the Youngling Center. When orphaned sparklings had shown up on the doorstep of the center, they often came without designations and many were newborns, quickly given up and unnamed to avoid the risk of attachment. The caretakers, busy enough as they were, had let her name them— provided it wasn't anything too outrageous like Afthead or Murderlizer. Sometimes she still couldn't believe she'd gotten away with naming one little mechling Loudmouth.

Upon arriving at the brig, she was met with two irritable femmes.

Flareup had her arms crossed and was doing her best to impersonate the Lieutenant. Greenlight on the other hand looked like she wanted to strangle the red and black femme judging by the amount of heat in her glare.

'' Uhhh, what's going on?'' Moonracer questioned as she set her stuff down on a bench.

Both femmes opened their mouths to speak right as Moonracer realized Greenlight no longer had the sparkling with her.

'' Greenlight has disobeyed my direct orders and—'' Flareup started harshly before she was loudly interrupted by an irate Quartermaster.

'' You have no authority over me, young femme!'' Greenlight snapped, her optics ablaze with fury. Moonracer shrank back at the sight and realized she had never seen the normally mild-mannered femme so emotional before.

Holding her hands up in a placating matter, Moonracer loudly asked,'' Okay okay, _where_ is the sparkling?''

Greenlight looked to be gearing up for a lengthy rant but Flareup beat her to the punch. '' She gave it to Starscream!''

Moonracer blinked.

Wait... what?

* * *

**_A Few Breems Ago..._ **

-

Starscream awoke to a splitting migraine and a throbbing pain between his legs.

Groaning, he onlined his optics and stared blearily up at the rusty grey ceiling. Judging by the severity of both the migraine and the waves of pain from down south, he'd had far too much to drink and must have let Megatron indulge in one of his rarer kinks. He hoped the giant buffoon was still in berth with him so he could kick him out as violently as possible and send him to harass Mixmaster into brewing up one of his miracle tonics for hangovers.

However, as Starscream's helm listed from side to side and he noticed his surroundings, his frame sent him feedback telling him he was definitely _not_ laying on Megatron's nice padded berth but the cold, hard and _sticky_ floor. This wasn't Megatron's room, he slowly began to realize and unfortunately, his optical feed only added to his growing alarm with visuals of energon stained walls boxing him in and the familiar glow of laser bars.

Oh, no...

Tidbits of his last memories were fed to him in split-second flashbacks.

_.... A sub-routine was running in the background of his processor, one he didn't recognize...._

_.... There had been a battle — but he was missing data...._

_.... Shuffled around his cell, trying in vain to find a comfortable position...._

_.... His flight-protocols were glitching...._

Starscream offline his optics and a violent shudder wracked his frame, awakening all sorts of aches and pains. His spinal strut twinged with discomfort, his wings reported deadened sensors and fiery pain burned in his pelvic region. He felt bloated and worn thin at the same time. His valve felt as dry as a desert and to his horror his modesty panels were retracted, leaving him utterly exposed with an obscene amount of fluid stained his inner thighs.

No, no, no, no, no—

_.... A knot of pressure tightened even further — tension flowed throughout his frame, causing the array behind his pannel to throb and the struts of his back to ache...._

_.... He smashed a wing against the wall — there was no room...._

Starscream couldn't stop the keen building in his throat. Primus, let it have all been a nightmare!

_.... A deep pain — like a dull blade had buried itself deep within his gut...._

_.... Stuck in a torturous loop...._

_.... Just wanted this over with...._

_.... Everything hurt — he couldn't think straight — his spark spun too slowly — the world had been turned upside down...._

_.... Emergence 51%...._

'' Oh my god, you're awake!''

A sudden and very real voice jarred him from the cascade of memories.

He looked beyond his wrecked frame towards the laser bars and saw an Autobot femme standing outside the cell. Her plating glowed a sickly green to his optics and the glow of the laser bars softened the age lines of her face. Her expression was one of open shock but what caught his attention most was the tiny being magnetized to her chestplates.

A broken noise escaped him and he flopped a hand uselessly in her direction.

The Autobot seemed to have read his mind as she glanced down at the sparkling on her chest. She didn't say a word as she deactivated the laser bars and crept into the cell to kneel beside him. Gently, she unmagnetized the sparkling and cradled it in her arms.

'' I'm only letting you hold them because I know you're in no state to make any moves right now,'' she whispered to him, her optics dim and soft as she watched his face,'' For what its worth, I'm sorry you had to go through emergence like this. Had I known, I would have offered some assistance.''

Starscream didn't care for her words. _'Just give me my sparkling—'_

A warm and slightly sticky bundle of soft protoform and delicate components was placed on his chest. A pair of sleepy red optics blinked online and the sparkling yawned making a little 'O' with their mouth that revealed two dull fangs and a two small rows of white denta.

Starscream's spark surged with emotion and his optics watered with coolant.

There was a saying among grounders that every seeker wanted sparklings— and as much as Starscream tried to squash the ridiculous stereotypes and assumptions grounders came up with regarding seekers— he couldn't help but admit that one, at least, was true. The desire for sparklings was instinctive in most seekers. Carrying was considered a great privilege in Vosian culture and sparklings were sacred to them.

However, Starscream himself never thought he'd carry, to be honest. He hadn't been a typical seeker if one asked around. He'd been raised in privilege as one of the Winglord's many offspring and had used the means provided by privilege to escape it and as a result, he'd slummed it in Iacon even during his days with Skyfire at the Science Academy. It had not been until Skyfire's death and his expulsion that he had returned to Vos and met Thundercracker and Skywarp and trined with the two after a quick and turbulent courtship. The desire to kindle with his trinemates had then arisen once he was surrounded by his seekerkin and their culture and traditions. Thank Primus he hadn't for it would have been a nightmare to try and raise seekerlets in a functionalist society and then protect them from the sins of war. Not to mention, he never would have ascended to his current rank or been anywhere near Decepticon High Command if he had been hampered by sparklings.

After he had joined the Decepticons, all thoughts of kindling vanished from his processor. He was now Winglord and Vos had become a key Decepticon citystate. The survival of his people now came before all personal wants. Establishing himself as a Decepticon and earning a suitable rank that befit a Winglord came second.

And then Vos fell.

The loss of his city and half of his people had crippled him and those left in ways that were not perceivable to the naked optic. Many traditions and customs were lost and seeker-kind were forced to adapt in a grounder-dominated world. Most Decepticons were brash and uncouth and their ways clashed with the traditionalist habits of seeker culture. Trining became far less common, kindling was forbidden and the hierarchy of aeries was abandoned in favor of Decepticon officer rankings. Starscream had been torn in two trying to decide whether or not to promote these changes or condemn them.

In the end, Megatron robbed him of a choice and subsequently decided _he_ knew what was best for seeker-kind.

Starscream was still smarting over that and Megatron was still trying to apologize for it. Or he had been at least...

Blinking away stubborn tears, Starscream lifted a trembling hand to stroke the sparkling's helm with his fingertips. The sparkling nuzzled his chest in response and offlined their optics as they settled into recharge. His spark twinged at the sight and he sighed.

He had decided shortly after Vos had fallen that he was never going to kindle. His decision was met by outrage from Skywarp and teary-opticed disappointment from Thundercracker. Starscream had been firm despite their pleading and his rise to Second in Command had only cemented his decision further. The ruthlessness of High Command and the peril of battle was no place to raise a sparkling. Someone would try to use any sparklings he had against him and the Autobots would certainly target them— if not just to steal his sparklings from him in the name of misguided concern for their wellbeing. All in all, kindling was no longer an option even if they won the war.

But then Megatron had come along and somehow blustered his way into Starscream's spark.

The beginnings of something between them had started off in the same fashion most of their fights did. Starscream's mouth had run away with him and Megatron's temper had erupted as a result. However, instead of beating Starscream within an inch of his life, his leader had tried a different approach in the ways of subjugation. In the end, no wings were bent or denta knocked loose but Starscream had screamed the entire way through all the same.

Somewhere along the way, he had started to enjoy it. To be the one to initiate it even.

Things changed quite noticeably after that. Megatron listened to him more during strategy meetings. He was slower to find fault in him and quicker to praise him. Incidentally, Starscream started trying harder. Working harder. Fighting harder.

However, for all the pleasant changes, there were eventually problems. Things that started out minor and relatively unnoticeable until suddenly they surged white-hot and exploded. Things like a lack of equal standing, in and out of the berth. Things like what they truly wanted from this farce of a relationship. Megatron wanted access to a warm and willing frame, someone to sustain him without fail, someone that wouldn't get in his way, Primus forbid. Starscream wanted some measure of control over an otherwise violent relationship with his superior, he wanted respect and admiration from his partner and he wanted to prove he was capable of anything, in which he _deserved_ the attention he craved so badly.

However, repairing the damage done during their explosive fights was almost not worth the work. Megatron didn't want an equal and Starscream didn't want a master. Eventually, it became abundantly clear that the only mutual thing they agreed on and wanted from each other was the interfacing.

And yet despite it all...

Starscream swiped his thumb across the round softness of his sparkling's cheek.

Something beautiful had come out of their disaster of a relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me to Myself: You need to go to bed. You've got work in the morning. This chapter can wait. The editing can wait. It'll still be here tomorrow.
> 
> Me:
> 
> Me: *Compulsively stays up 3 extra hours to finish the chapter*


End file.
